I've been Chosen!

~Posted by Ang

I received this in the mail yesterday from Biltmore Who's Who, a company I've never heard of in my life. But, apparently, my recent professional achievements have caught their attention and made a deep impression. Yes, just when I thought those homemaking skills had gone unnoticed, that my prowess as home manager, wife, and mother was being ignored by society at large, Biltmore Who's Who has stepped in not only to acknowledge but also to publicize the success I've had as an executive in my profession. After all, I am a home executive, right??

Dear [my full name],

You were recently chosen as a potential candidate to represent the professional and business community of Broadlands, Virginia in the Biltmore 2009 Honors Edition of Who's Who Among Executives and Professional Women. [A stay-at-home mom chosen to represent a community whose career women would gasp at the thought of someone so far removed from their business and, in their minds, the professional sector representing them and their business interests?? Yeah right!! I guess they did just say "potential candidate"...]

We are pleased to notify you that your candidacy was formally approved January sixteenth, two thousand nine. Your confirmation will be validated within seven business days following our receipt of your enclosed Verification. [yes, no typo, the v is capitalized]

There is no cost to be listed. However it is by Committee invitation only. [Wow, I feel so honored. But seriously what is with the Orwellian-1984-esque capitalization of words that really do not need to be capitalized.]

The Publishing Committee selected you as a potential candidate, based upon your current standing as well as criteria from executive and professional rosters. [Hmmm, what rosters would those be...nursery committee?] Given your background, the Publishing Director believes your profile would make a fitting addition to our Honors Edition publication. [Aww, now that's just swell.]

Once finalized, your listing will share prominent space in the Biltmore Registry with thousands of fellow achievers across the nation, each representing individual accomplishment within their own geographical area.

Our Registry confirmation deadline for January candidates is February 27, 2009. To ensure you are included in our next edition, we must receive your Verification mailed back on or before that date.

Ms. Davis, on behalf of our Committee I salute your accomplishments. [If you've missed the r in my title, you have no idea of my accomplishments.] Welcome to the Biltmore's Who's Who roster. [Quite an assumption, there.]

Sincerely,
[Registry Administrator]


Well, thank you, Biltmore Who's Who, but instead of a line in your registry, how about free tickets for 4 to take a tour of the Biltmore?? That would be much more in line with my interests, and any networking I care to do can take place in the halls and grounds of one of the most beautiful estates in our nation. I have no idea how you got my name, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't in any documented listing of working professionals in my community, seeing as how if there were one I'm almost certain I wouldn't make it in there, though I'm flattered by your condescension. My "professional accomplishments" are not generally acknowledged by the powers that be here on this earth, and that's fine by me. Nevertheless, your letter was entertaining, so thanks for a good laugh!

P.S. A quick Google search suggests this company/offer is a scam, but no surprise there!

Problem vs. Dilemma

I walked in the house after work tonight went up to Addy's room where Ang was getting her ready for bed. I said: "I have a slight dilemma," and held up some tweezers.

You see, on the way home, I was using my iPhone's headphones and the right earbud kept falling out. So I just pressed the little earbud in a bit harder. I have "extensions" (for lack of a better word) on my earbuds that let them fit better in my ear with a rubber end on it.

Before going upstairs, I dropped all my accoutrements on the kitchen table. All that is, except for the little rubber end to my right earbud. Ummmm....It was stuck. In my ear.

I found my Leatherman Micra and pulled out the tweezers and then proceeded to find Ang. She shunned the tweezers and just used her pinky fingernail. After a few tugs, it came out. And then she declared: "That was no dilemma!"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Her: "You had a problem."

Me: "Exactly. I had a dilemma."

Her: "No! It's only a dilemma if you have another option. What else were you going to do, leave it in? You had a problem."

To my credit, my other option was to try to take it out myself. =)

Blenders are SOOO 2008

This is for Abby.

Introducing - the Monster Shredder!!

God sent the snow for me...

I don't mean to sound egomaniacal, but sometimes I just feel that God makes things happen just for me. To start off, I have been working on a project for a number of weeks and over the last week had polished off a report/presentation for our Board. Then Ang got sick on Sunday and I worked half a day on Monday.

Verdict: Shingles. Yuck. Ouch! She must have had a little something else with it, b/c she had excruciating headaches and high fever (not typical symptoms). Oh, and Vicodin didn't settle well with her body, making Monday night a sleepless one.

So Tuesday night was the day for my presentation. I was scurrying to find a way to be able to leave Ang with the kids, or have someone help out, but it wasn't looking promising (she was really out of it all day). And then, just before noon, we got word that the meetings had been canceled. The snow and ice were too ominous to have the Board/public out late at night. Praise the LORD!

Not that others couldn't have covered for me, but I hate not coming through when asked. So now we'll have it rescheduled, and we'll just pray for the few days leading up that no one gets sick!!

The Little (Wo)Man Wins

I'm happy to see that Caroline Kennedy didn't make the cut for Senator. I know nothing about her, nor do I know anything about Ms. Gillibrand. But it was obvious that Ms. Kennedy was being consider solely because of her name. Her "strengths" were that she advocated for education and those who were needy. Oh wow - you're describing 72% of the American populous.

Ms. Gillibrand may be a worthwhile candidate - but I think her appointment shows that there is a reward to those who work their way up the ranks. And, she's pro-gun. =)

Refresher

Ahhh - there's nothing like the mountains in the winter. Especially with single-digit temps and wind chills. Brrrr!!

Thanks to incredibly generous friends (two of our favorite couples), we had the opportunity to take three nights away over the MLK weekend. Despite our thoughts of warmer climates (Phoenix, Miami, Cancun (!) ), we determined that it would be best to stay a little closer to home. After looking around for ideas, I stumbled upon Berkeley Springs, WV, a spa town about 90 minutes from home. Berkeley Springs (officially the "Town of Bath" - don't ask) is known for its natural springs with supposedly healing minerals/nutrients in the water. George Washington frequented the town and his "bath" is still visible.

We found a wonderful B&B (Highlawn Inn) that offered a very comfortable room and incredibly filling and tasty breakfast. It was just "up the hill" in the heart of town, so we pretty much walked the entire time we were there. On Saturday, we hit the spa for a massage/pedicure (Ang indulged in the pedicure - I read in the corner). The rest of the day we wandered about town, stopping in the antique shops, bookstores, and hardware store (it was like a blast to the past - we need a good ol' fashioned hardware store in Ashburn!).

A quick interruption in the narrative - half of Berkeley Springs shuts down in January. The other half shuts down in February. :-)  So we didn't get to see every wonderful part of the town. This was particularly the case with restaurants, although we managed decent meals at each turn. The prominent restaurant was closed, and the other really good one was a few miles down the road. That evening we found a decent (okay) dinner and then had dessert across the street. Then, like all good fuddy-duddy old married couples, we were back at the Inn just after 8pm (and just in time to catch "Independence Day" from the beginning, which I don't think either of us had ever done).

Sunday started with the aforementioned breakfast, quiet morning, and a 1 1/2 block walk to the local Methodist church. We were going to go Presbyterian, but it was PCUSA, and not to say all PCUSA churches are bad, but we decided to try Methodist. And it was a home-run! We made it to the "traditional" service (because we didn't want to go to church at 8:15!!), but the singing was pleasant, the people were uber-friendly, and the message was outstanding. We were blessed, to say the least!

The rest of Sunday we traveled to Hagerstown (~45 minutes) and ate lunch at Red Lobster (high eating for Hagerstown), shopped at the outlets (spent more money than we should have), watched two movies (Valkyrie and Marley & Me, in that order, on purpose). Not to pass up the opportunity, we made a quick stop at Krumpe's Do-Nuts on our way back to Berkeley Springs - you're not allowed to be in Hagerstown without getting a Krumpe's.

As for Monday, we had breakfast, packed up our stuff, and then walked into town for one last relaxation - the Roman Baths. In short, a really big tub (mini-pool) in a really humid, private room - where the "healing" waters are a balmy 102 degrees. Very, very, very relaxing. Then, off to lunch and off to Frederick to what we thought would be a quick stop and back home. Ummmm - except for that 45-car pileup on I-70 - which was thankfully in the lanes of the other direction, but still brought our lanes almost to a stop.

Being one who would rather drive out of the way than sit on an interstate, we shot down through who-knows-where Washington Co. Maryland and had the most quaint/beautiful country drive I can remember. It had snowed ~1-2 inches that morning, so everything was surreal. We finally made it to Frederick, grabbed a cup of Joe at our old studying spot (Frederick Coffee Co.) and off to Barnes and Noble for a couple of books.

We finally made it home about 4:30. Our girls were ecstatic to see us, and we got to experience Maggie (M&S's dog) and Dido "play" (which you can imagine, is not really playing at all - Maggie barks at Dido, Dido hisses, Dido jumps on top of the chair and hisses, and Maggie keeps barking).

Two of the three nights, Addy had decided not to sleep for our dear friends. But there must be a kind of calming peace about Mom and Dad being back home, because for the last two nights, she hasn't woken up once during the night. Ahhhhh. So thanks to our friends for such a wonderful opportunity to get away. We love our girls, and missed them almost every minute. But there's something to be said for some quiet vacation time where you don't have to worry about nap schedules and feeding times.

Snow in Berkeley Springs

It's the perfect snowy day here, but, alas, it's time for us to go
home. We've enjoyed our weekend away and a big shout-out of gratitude
to T and B, M and S for taking care of our kiddos!

As we're driving out of town and enjoying the beautiful white stuff,
one of Amelia's most recent favorite poems is running through my mind.
Just overlook the punctuation and spelling errors-I'm doing this from
memory. :-)

The More It Snows
By A.A. Milne

The more it SNOWS tiddeley-pom
The more it GOES tiddeley-pom
The more it GOES tiddeley-pom
On snowing.

And nobody KNOWS tiddeley-pom
How cold my TOES tiddeley-pom
How cold my TOES tiddeley-pom
Are growing.

Posted by Ang

Sent from my iPhone

Star Wars in 3 minutes

From someone who's only seen snippets of the original Trilogy. This is great.


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Things I've Learned From "24"

2) Maybe I've not been paying close enough attention to all the subplots, but it seems like absolutely nothing bad happened in the last 2 years (or was it 3) that Jack Bauer has been out of the country. Seriously. He comes back to face DOJ accusations, and it just so happens that America is about to be strangleheld (?) by terrorists.

So the moral of the story: SEND JACK AWAY! AMERICA IS ONLY SAFE WHEN BAUER IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

Decline - Sharp Drop

Precipitous - I really like that word.

[ps - It's the antithesis of the trend of number of comments on my blog. Amazingly, I just had 3 comments posted in an 8-minute period. It's a record!!]

Stiff

When I came into work this morning, this was the conversation:

People: "How are you?"
Me: "Cold." (I had just walked 5 blocks from the car shop.)
People: "It'll be colder tomorrow."

You see, that's just not comforting. My face is frozen and my legs can barely move. Don't tell me it's getting colder. It doesn't make it any warmer today!!

Things I've Learned From "24"

You can learn a lot of valuable life lessons from "24." Here's the first and most important.

1) When you're captured by a terrorist for your expertise and told, "Do [insert horrible and treasonous act here] and we won't kill you," don't listen to them. They'll still kill you. Might as well die valiantly by NOT giving away national secrets.

Don't Count Your ....

It looks like, based on a quick estimation, that we'll get approx $2,000 back in our tax return this year. With two kids, real estate taxes, mortgage interest, and no huge capital gains, my taxable income is ... minute. Which is a good thing, when it comes to taxes.

I had reduced my withholdings at the beginning of the year, knowing that Addy would arrive and benefit us greatly (thanks, kiddo!). I'm not sure I can reduce them anymore, but we'll see....

Our iPod Family

Amelia has started saying iPod, primarily because I bought Angela a new one for Christmas. It's one thing to hear your children say the normal words (and sentences and songs), but to hear "iPod" out of the mouth of a 2-year old is pretty funny. That, and "Barack Obama." She could be doing something totally unrelated to the TV and we'll be watching news/Morning Joe, and if she hears it, even in her periphery, she'll smile and say, "Barack Oh-BAHHHM-a." Pretty funny.

But anyway, Angela's new iPod is the 2nd gen iPod Touch - it has all the great cool features of the iPhone without the phone (duh!), camera (bummer), and a few other minor things. Oh, and the $30/month data charge you're required to pay (hence, why she didn't want an iPhone). But the great thing is, it keeps all her contacts, calendar, email, etc. No more 3-inch thick Franklin Covey (b/c who needs a highly effective person, anyway?).

But even GREATER - is that she and I sync to the same computer - the quintessential marital expose. What's hers is mine, and what's mine is ours (thank you, Alfalfa). So all our music is shared - if she buys something wireless over iTunes, it syncs to me. If she adds a calendar entry and then syncs to the computer, it populates that calendar entry immediately/wirelessly wherever I am (the beauty of MobileMe, now that it works). We are truly an integrated family.

Now all we need is an iPod Nano for Mia and a Shuffle for Addy - all proportional. Then again, Mia can have my old 30GB iPod (still works, barely), and Addy can chew on Ang's old Mini (it's green!!!).

Finishing vacation

I'm supposed to be giving Addy her dream-feed right now, but I'm procrastinating. Why, I'm not sure (the football game is basically over - ARIZONA???). Oh, and before the actual post - Ang said she thought she'd take over the dream-feed. You see how that's turned out....but anyway.

We finished our nice vacation with a visit from Angela's parents and grandparents (they came to my folks' house for an evening to have dinner and open presents). I went to bed at 11:30 on New Year's Eve. Then we started packing up, and Friday - after the girls' naps - we hit the road.

Whereas on the trip down the girls did super-great in the hotel room, the return trip reminded us that our angels aren't perfect. I blame it on the fact that Amelia slept for about an hour in the car before we got to the hotel room. I.e. - she wasn't tired at all when it was bed time. And when Amelia is hyped up, running around, and talking - Addy just can't focus or fall asleep (she adores her big sis).

Finally about, oh, 12:30 Addy settled down. And I think Mia finally got quiet at 1 or 1:30 (she was laying in bed, trying to quietly sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" - but she kept clapping her hands and then loudly wispering "HOORAY!" - *sigh*). Of course, they both woke up around 6:30....

A continental b'fast and Starbucks later, we were on the road again (we had stopped in Lake Norman, just north of Charlotte). The girls got a much needed nap and we made it all the way the Christiansburg, VA for a Cracker Barrel breakfast (at noon!).

We got home at 6pm, unloaded, and were just happy to have made it in one piece. Until 2am. I heard a panicked scream from Mia and was on my feet in 1.3 seconds. I paused when she was quite, and then heard another yelp. I ran into her room to find - oh man - she had thrown-up. First time. And she was that combination of scared/upset/hurting/nastiness that comes with throwing-up.

I went and got Ang, and then said, "I don't feel too good myself," although that happens when you jump out of bed in a hurry. She thought, "Yeah, he just doesn't want to deal with it." Except - yeah, I didn't feel too good myself. And so the two of us were sick all night long. I can't complain about Angela not helping me during my turmoil, as she got no sleep and had to change Mia's clothes at least 5/6 times during the night.

I struggled into work on Tuesday because of meetings, but left slightly early. I came home to Ang feeling bad (she had avoided it to this point), shaky, and cold. And less than an hour later she was commiserating with what we had gone through. Hers passed more quickly than mine (though just as violent), but that's b/c I got short bits of sleep between "bouts." She couldn't sleep, so it seemed almost constant. Thankfully, when I watched the girls on Wednesday as Ang got her needed rest, Mia was still really tired and getting over her sickness, so she slept almost all day long. And Addy had her best naps she's ever had for me - so I wasn't too terribly stressed.

We're all better now - just still taking it easy on certain foods. And now we can successfully check that box that says we've survived our child having the stomach bug.

The Non-Blogger Returns

(posted by Ang)

Perhaps it's the new year or --more likely --perhaps it's the fact that both my dear daughters are taking a morning nap, for the first time EVER both asleep at the same time in the morning. (Amelia is sick with the stomach flu, hence the morning nap.)

So I found myself composing, for the upteenth time, a blog in my head after enjoying a little quiet time and prayer after putting Addy to bed. If you faithful bloggers only knew how many blogs I've composed in my head since the creation of this blog that never make it to the keyboard, or, if they do make it past the keyboard they never get into the "publish post" phase. When I do have the luxury of time to sit down and pen my thoughts, I usually turn to journaling in a private journal, as I've done for as long as I can remember since I learned how to write. The difference there is HUGE -no need to worry about my grammar or spell-checking or wondering if every little word I say will be analyzed by someone I don't even know. (Yeah, I think way too much about these things! Hence, the blog once every two years...sometimes!)

Okay, so the real impetus for me posting this morning is really that I read a WONDERFUL devotion and wanted to share it! Emailing is sooo five years ago, I'm told, so I'm posting it here. Read it, don't read it--your call. But whatever you decide, you can thank me later for not cluttering your email inbox. ;-)

Before getting to the meat of the post, a little background...over our Christmas vacation which we spent with Danny's folks, we had the privilege of being part of their church fellowship on Sunday. They participate in a home church with several other families and enjoy an intimate time of worship, prayer, and studying the Word. It's a wonderful and beautiful way of "doing church," and we always enjoy the opportunity to be there for this time. Anyway, during the sharing time, one of the ladies shared a testimony of God's faithfulness in the recent trials of her life and mentioned how He had used, specifically, Isaiah 43:2 to give her hope and peace. I would say "ironically," but I believe it's much more accurate to say that providentially, when I turned to one of my favorite devotionals this morning (entitled Streams in the Desert, if you're interested), the reading for today was based on that very text. After a long weekend spent taking care of a sick daughter and husband and getting very little sleep (about 2-1/2 hours in a 48-hour period which is still EXTREMELY difficult for me despite my experience with sleep-deprivation), I was REALLY encouraged by this and hope you will be too!

"When thou passest through the waters....they shall not overflow thee." Isaiah 43:2

God does not open paths for us in advance of our coming. He does not promise help before help is needed. He does not remove obstacles out of our way before we reach them. Yet when we are on the edge of our need, God's hand is stretched out.

Many people forget this, and are forever worrying about difficulties which they foresee in the future. They expect that God is going to make the way plain and open before them, miles and miles ahead; whereas He has promised to do it only step by step as they may need. You must get to the waters and into their floods before you can claim the promise. Many people dread death, and lament that they have not "dying grace." Of course, they will not have dying grace when they are in good health, in the midst of life's duties, with death far in advance. Why should they have it then? Grace for duty is what they need then, living grace; they will have dying grace when they come to die. J.R.M.

"When thou passest through the waters"
Deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our refuge,
And His promise is our hold;
For the Lord Himself hath said it,
He, the faithful God and true:
"When thou comest to the waters
Thou shalt not go down, BUT THROUGH."

Sea of sorry, seas of trial,
Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation
Sweeping over heart and brain--
They shall never overflow us
For we know His word is true;
All His waves and all His billows
He will lead us safely through.

Threatening breakers of destruction
Doubt's insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us
Out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us,
Praise the lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under,
For He saith, "Thou passest THROUGH."

Annie Johnson Flint.