Sorry it's been a while...

~My oldest won his school spelling bee! He's a 4th grader, and he won against 4th, 5th and 6th graders and will represent his school in the city-wide bee, whenever that is. Very proud!
~If Steph can blog about SNL, then I have to, too. Here was my favorite part from a better-than-average show last night. Can't get the video display, gotta just link it.
~Oh yeah, we're getting a new president this week. That's some big friggin news!! I am so very excited, pleased, proud, amazed that we will be swearing in a (almost) black president. Times have changed and this clearly is a new generation coming into power. I JUST WISH IT WASN'T BARACK OBAMA!!!! Why couldn't Colin Powell have run this time? There are so many more wonderful, God-fearin, Jesus-lovin black people of political power out there that I would've rather seen win this election. But still, day after we celebrate "Martin Luther King Jr./Robert E Lee Day" we will see an historic event in so many accounts. I'm sure I'll even cry some...doesn't take much!
~Indoor soccer at church is going well. Much better setting for my boys to play in. The Y was WAY too competitive, kids insulting eachother on the field, bad, unsportsmanlike conduct, etc. They're having fun and getting better playing at church. I started running a little concessions area on the side with some youth helpers, and I think that will turn out to be fun to get to know some of the youth, too.
~Got an examination for State job coming up on Saturday to possibly work at the Probate office... looking forward to that opportunity.
~My Father in law is on a mission trip in Costa Rica for the next twelve days... I had a ticket to go too. Back in October when I signed up, we were assuming Tony would be working, and things would be in order, but that hasn't happened, so I have to believe it's just not in God's timing for me to go right now. Maybe next time.
Later!
It's been so long, I almost forgot how to put in a link!

Um...

I guess I got all excited about nothin'... they never called me this weekend for an interview on Tuesday. I called them, and they said they weren't doing it. So, I don't know, maybe it could still happen, but for now, I'm trying to just "bloom where planted". We'll see how that works.
Merry Christmas to everyone. If you're in Montgomery, tune in to 101.5 or 97.5 the River, a new christian radio station. They play lots of good music. Check it out!
God Bless Y'all!

God is so good

You know, he really works in ways you don't expect. I've been praying about a new job for the past 2 or 3 weeks, ever since I saw a listing for Store Manager position at Pier 1. Years ago, I worked there. I took the Sales Manager position, which was basically a manager-in-training then 2 months later, I got pregnant with Jonathan, so I worked there until the week before he was born. I thought that part of my work history was closed, until I saw that listing. So I applied for the Store Manager position, and talked to the asst manager about it. The Montgomery store does not have a manager at all right now. The Auburn manager is interviewing and hiring. A few days went by, so I called to talk with the Auburn manager since I hadn't heard from her yet. I've been so concentrated on the store manager position, but praying for it to happen 'if it's God's will for me'. One reason I've been sort of hesitant about the whole thing is because I know it would be more than 40 hours a week of work. I'm willing to do that right now because my husband still has not been able to get anything going, and my Chappy's money is not even close to enough to make it by on. I'm extremely blessed to have a Mom, Grandma & mother-in-law that have helped us get by. Anyway, when I talked to the Auburn manager, she told me that they would only consider someone with previous retail management experience, but that they have a part-time asst manager position open that I should be able to interview for next Tuesday. I've been thinking all night about how much better that would work out for me. I wouldn't have to leave Chappy's totally, and when I get back in the groove of things at Pier 1 and something else opens up, I'll be more ready. I just love it how when you stare at one door for a while, God opens up a window that'll get you to the same place in a better way. He's awesome!

Alabama History

Here's a video (mostly of the back of his head) of Anthony square dancing at the PTA meeting tonight... so cute! And yet possibly could be used for blackmailing or embarassing purposes later!

Happy Birthday, Buddy Mo!

Today, October 1st, our dog Buddy is 1 year old! We sang Happy Birthday to him after dinner. He didn't care. But he liked his doggie biscuit afterwards.

Who, me?

Did I get tagged by Stacy? If so, what does that mean?
Does it just mean I have to mention 6 things about me you may not know? Then pick some more? Ok, here goes:

1~My firstborn son weighed 10 lbs 1 oz at birth, and yes, I had him without the help of a c-section. (He did break his collar-bone coming out, though.)

2~I've been to Equador before on a mission trip. Summer of '98, and I'm scheduled to go to Costa Rica on a mission trip in January. (Oh yeah, I've GOT to renew my passport!!)

3~I actually wasn't ALWAYS an Alabama fan. My parents moved here from California, so when I got around other kids in kindergarten, they would always ask me, "Do you go for Auburn or Alabama?" and I didn't know what the HECK they were talking about. So, I asked my Mom, and she said Auburn. I asked my Dad, and he said Alabama. So, for a few years I claimed Auburn, but then when I got older, 9th or 10th grade, I decided for myself and I chose Alabama. Hm, is it coincidence that was the year of their last national championship?

4~I was at a Benny Hinn crusade when I made my decision to follow Christ. It was actually a few months after I went on my mission trip. Kinda backwards, I guess, but you know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I always went to church as a kid, but I didn't know anything about a RELATIONSHIP with Christ, just a bunch of religious activities. So after talking to Tony a lot about it for several months, I was ready (and by preparing and prompting of the Holy Spirit) when I was asked that question, "If you died tonight, are you certain you'd be in heaven with God?" I thought my answer was no, so I went down to pray and accept Christ into my heart right then. My life has never been the same since.

5~My husband and I went to the same Elementary school and High school, and he was only a grade ahead of me AND I cheerleaded? for the football team he played for at the Y, and we never met until the year after I graduated. We've grown up around so many of the same people, but we never knew eachother. Cool, huh?

6~I'm not as nice to my kids as everybody thinks I am. It really bothers me when people tell me I'm such a great mom, because I don't think it's true. I know deep down I should handle some situations differently, with more patience and understanding, speaking to my kids in a way that teaches them to think, instead of down-grading their ideas, or crushing their imaginations. I wish I treated them the same at home as I do when other people are around...I don't know why that's hard for me to do. Sorry to turn this into confessional time, but that's definitely something you didn't know about me, that maybe if you did, I would change it!!

I tag Crystal and Stephanie!

HOORAY!!!

My computer is clean!!
It works again! I'm catching up on a months' worth of emails, setting all my passwords in again...whew!
Alabama football is lookin so good, so far! Even though it's been just one game, tonights is PPV only, they look like a whole new team!! It's so exciting to see them seize their potential, and play as good as you know they can!
I lurve Sarah Palin. She is exactly what he needed. He's like, the most left you can be and still be a republican, so he really needed a great conservative like her, but the fact that she's a woman is just enough to be news, exciting, fresh & different. The thing I worry about the most is that Obama has the charisma to bring a whole lot of people to the polls, who, for the most part, have always thought, "Hm, I can vote for this crusty old white guy, or this crusty old white guy..." Now that those kind of voters see a different option, I'm afraid they won't care about the fact that he's FOR partial-birth abortions, stem cell research, and supporting civil unions. They just want CHANGE, that's all they care about. I'm so glad I'm cushioned in the South by the bible belt, I still believe McCain has a shot.

More to come later... I'm just glad to be back.

PC problems

I'm ready to blow up my computer!
My husbands identity works fine. Mine, however, only pulls up the internet half the time and I haven't been able to check my email in over a week! I'm dyin here! UGH!
So, do I get a new email, close my facebook acct, and start all over? Do we spend a bunch of money for spyware? This sucks! Makes me realize how much I depend on technology...my hubby's xbox360 is broke, too, so we're both miserable. (I'm personally sick of FIFA 08, so I'm kinda glad the 360s down, but I don't like seeing him irritable, you know?)
Anyway, use is sporadic, I feel like I'm missing out!
Maybe things will be better soon...

All Done!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's some pictures of my finished scrapbook. Much better in person, though. We had a dedication service the other day. Hopefully, it will make a difference in someone's life....one day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Scrapbooking

Is great! It's been so long since I've done it, I forgot how much fun it is. I'm in a new summertime bible study at my church, in a 6 wk course done by Lisa Whelchel, where a side profit is a nice scrapbook about my own life and walk with Christ that I can pass on to my kids. So, it's not like I've been blogging SO much lately, but it'll probably be doing it even less now that I'm already getting obsessed for perfection with my new project. But it's fun and productive, and I'll still get all my politics commentary from Steph.

Aawww....

He found an extensive list of tongue twisters on the internet, this is one of his favorites. Mom, you like the new haircut?

Open Mouth, Insert Foot....

Oh well, guess I guessed wrong.
I'd still like to see DA duet with Jordin Sparks.
Man, ZZ Top is lookin archeaic!!!
Ok, on to more serious stuff next time!

David vs. David

Last night's finale was pretty good. Not outstanding or anything. I really wanted David Cook to come out and WOW me, because David Archuleta has so much momentum. He (DC) was kinda blah last night. I thought he did ok, but Archie really brought it. His (DA) 2nd song gave me chills and his 3rd brought a tear to my eye. I know it sounds silly, I'm 30 years old, blogging about American Idol, like there's not more important things going on in the world, but hey, let's keep it light. I think this was the most talented top 3 we've ever had. Especially compared to 2 seasons ago, when the finale was Kat McPhee and Taylor Hicks. That was a pretty sorry year in my opinion. ANYWAY...I'm gonna say an early congrats to David Archuleta, and look forward to hearing him and David Cook and Syesha on the radio next year after the tour. I'd really love to see Jordin & David do a duet.

Buh-bye, Jason!

Yes, I'm gonna blog about American Idol. I know I should've posted it on here already, but by week 2 of the top 12, I've been hoping and somewhat expecting the top three to be the David's and Syesha. As long as one of those 3 wins it, I'll be happy. I think all three of them will have successful recording careers after the tour. As long as Jason goes home tonight, I'll be proud to know I called the top 3 from the get-go. You can ask my Mom & several co-workers at Chappy's. I would've like to have seen Jason go home before Carly & John, but oh well. He must have a huge teenage-texting-generation of girls devoted to him, cause he can't sing that well (sorry, Stacy). They criticized him for singing Bob Marley, but I think he just sang the wrong BM song. He would've sounded so much better singing One Love, or the Redemption Song, or Stir it Up, or even Buffalo Soldier...anything but I Shot the Sheriff! DA, DC and Sy really showed him up last night.
I predict 3rd- David Cook, 2nd- Syesha, and winner David Archuleta. You tube has a video of David A singing last Christmas at church the song Mary Did You Know. Check it out, he's so awesome!

God is GOOD!

All the time! He is my provider....waiting tables is kinda like casting lots. You know, in the bible all the time how it talks about casting lots? You can choose your section, you can even choose your customers sometimes, you can choose to work hard and even go that extra mile, but you really never know how much money you're going to make until it's all said and done. The other day I picked up an extra shift for breakfast, which I used to work 5 days a week, but almost never since I've been back. It's amazing to me how many breakfast regulars remember me. I was gone for 2 years! Anyway, I had a table of 6 guys, their bill was $42, they gave me $60 and told me to keep the change. Then I had one guy, whose bill was $7.50, when I picked up his money, I swear he got out a $10 bill, so I said, "I'll be right back with your change.", took it over to the counter to make change, saw that it was actually a $20, went to give him his change, and he was gone! To me, that was an angel in disguise. Stuff like that happens to other servers all the time, but not me. I noticed I've been blogging a lot about money lately, I guess that's cuz we don't have much of it right now. But that's ok...we'll make it through...I think. Hubby started a new job this week, but it turned out to be total BS, not what was advertised at all. But at least when that didn't work, he was motivated to go a few other places looking for some work. I'm sure he'll get something good going next week. Until then, just remember, God is good, all the time! (All the time, God is good. :) Stick around for the upbeat part - that's how it sounds in my head.

Now this is frightening!

I recieve a daily devotional email from a member of my church, and this morning, he relayed this link that he got after his devotional was sent out today.
I am glad now that I can say I really don't watch Oprah that much. I had no idea she had gone this far. I thought she was just sort of self-serving, doing nice things, great things, even, to help those without, using her massive millions for good, and I always kinda thought she was closer to an atheist-state than anything else. To know that she is reaching a whole lot of people with wackiness like this is frightening.
Kudos to the woman in her audience who stood up and defended her faith by reminding Oprah that there IS only ONE way. And when O said that when she heard our God is a jealous God, that something seemed wrong with that.....hello? She was just way off base with that line of thinking. Well, like I said in my dream, "Keep your eyes on the skies!"

I had a dream....

about the return of Jesus. I love those dreams! I've had 2 or 3 that I can kinda remember. This one last night (actually this morning) was kinda "technicolor-Willy-Wonka-type". But it was still really neat, and the thing I love most is that my emotions are just full force. I kinda feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride cuz I'm so excited.
I was in a college campus type place, walking around, and I remember thinking about how bad things are, how corrupt our young people are, and someone else walked by me and said, "Keep your eyes on the skies! He's coming back soon!" So I got somewhere that had like, a big sky-light-courtyard kinda place. The clouds started turning all kind of colors then it got dark as night for a few seconds and it was lightning, and it was so dark I had to hold on to the rail on the wall. Then there was a bright light and a rainbow started way up high and came down to us and there was really loud music and I saw Him coming down the rainbow closer and closer. He kinda had his back to us, then as he got closer he turned around and looked down at us. Instead of the cliche white robe, he was in a purple coat and his hair was dark and he was wearing a top hat, and I thought, 'why does he look like that?' (Hence the Willy Wonka type thoughts- I haven't seen that movie lately or anything) Then I realized it was just a dream, but I was still excited about it all. So any of you dream-analyzers out there can comment. There was just so much excitement and anticipation when the rainbow was coming down, cuz I knew what was going on and people around me didn't. It's just so weird when you dream and everything is so real.
Ok, I guess that's all there is for now.
I've been workin, workin, workin.... hoping my husband gets a job SOON!

I feel better.

So... obviously yesterday was rough, and I just had to get some things off my chest. That's the stress of waiting tables for a living. A lot of people who eat out have no clue that servers make $2.13 an hour, and are completely oblivious to the fact that tips are our only real income.
Anyways, I had a yard sale today, and I reached my goal on money and got rid of a lot of stuff so I am feeling lots better. I can't enjoy this beautiful weather because Kaylee's allergies are SO bad so I'll stay inside and CLEAN!

Time to vent!

No links, no politics, no newsworthy-news. I'm just gonna complain. Since I've been working a lot more lately, it's hard not to have to let it go.
First of all, if you can't AFFORD to tip, go to McDonald's. Do not go somewhere that you will receive sit-down service in a quick and timely manner if you won't be able to tip your server 15-20%. No matter what you may think, pretty much everything that goes on during a meal, everything your server does and says is in anticipation of getting a good tip. If your server doesn't smile, refill, hustle and hurry, they're not that stressed for money. If your server always smiles, says 'yes, maam, no maam, thank you very much', refills before you ask, offers dessert, promptly brings you everything you need, etc, that means they do need the money, they do put all of their energy into giving good service, they do pride themselves on their work. When you get a server like that, 20% (or more) is completely appropriate. It says, "Hey, I noticed you did a good job, thanks for taking such good care of us!"
Today was a little slow, so when I saw 3 women and 10 girls come in, I didn't mind taking them in my section. Now, I AM NOT a racist person at all, but I am not the only person of the opinion that black women are not good tippers. I've even heard other black servers make that comment before. I do not want to stereotype, either, so when I saw this group, I said to myself, "I'm not going to judge them before I serve them, I'm sure they'll tip fine." Well, sadly, the stereotype was right. Not only that, but it's just a group thing, too. Any group more than 6 requires quite a bit more work than normal. I gave them outstanding service. I can say that for sure. They were my only table at the time, they did not need anything that I hadn't already gotten them. $75 worth of food netted me a whopping $5 tip. That's not even 10%!! Now, money is money, and right now we need it real bad at my house but more than that, for me, personally, I think I somehow take that as an insult to my service. Sometimes if I get a poor tip, I think, "what did I do wrong?" I consider my spiritual gift to be service. I consider myself to be a really good server. So I guess it kinda hurts sometimes when I think I did a really good job and then didn't get rewarded for it, you know?
Second of all, if you put a whole lot of effort into making excuses, that doesn't excuse you from tipping. If you're aware that you feel you should apologize for something, tip like it. Don't sit there and say, "I'm sorry I'm so needy, but can I have..... or I'm sorry we're coming in at 8:55.... or I'm sorry, I've changed my mind again..." if you notice you've sent me back and forth, and back and forth, pay me for it. I don't think that's too much to ask. (Of course I don't, I'm a server.) You may think, well, Shannon, that's your job. You're right, it is, but c'mon, you already know if you're gonna want Ranch with your fries, or extra crackers for your soup, tell me ahead of time so I can get it all at once.
I think it should be mandate law that everyone upon completion of HS or college should serve at least 1 year in a customer-service type job. People who have never waited on anyone else, whether in a restarant, mall store, gas station, or anywhere, do not have a full appreciation for those that wait on them.
Ok, I feel better.... I think I'm done for now.
Have a great weekend!