Color me happy

We are fine.  Sandy came and went and didn't pack as big a wind as her sister did last year.  Relief and happiness are our middle names.

To add more happiness to the relief we felt, the schools in the county were closed on Monday and Tuesday so I didn't have to go to work.  Bonus!

It was strange to be watching the storm on tv and then to look out the window and see something completely different.  There was some wind, but I think the strongest gusts were only 65 mph as opposed to the 95 mph winds we had with Irene.  It looks as if New Jersey and NYC bore the brunt of this storm.  She was certainly huge.  Thank you all for your prayers and concern.  I felt completely covered in prayer.  In fact, my husband was amazed to watch me sleep peacefully in my bed (on our top floor) Sunday night, while he paced and watched the effect of the wind on the trees on our property.  I just felt safe.  And that was a peaceful feeling.

Today is business as usual.  I saw a few trees down on my drive into work this morning, but not many.  Almost everyone in the county has power.  Our power only flickered twice.  Amazing.  There were electric company bucket trucks everywhere you turned on Sunday night.  Those guys were awesome.

As I mentioned, I'm back at work and because of the two days off, the work is piled high and wide.  I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and let you know we are well.  God is good.

643.  Electricity.  I really, really like electricity
644.  People who evacuate the area when the authorities ask you to evacuate the area
645.  Friends checking on each other
646.  Knowing we would be ok, no matter what happened.  Everything was in God's hands
647.  Seeing the sun shining today

weren't the photoshopped Statue of Liberty pics hilarious?

Frankenstorm Sandy, please please be gentle with us

Hurricane Sandy will come to my house between 2:00 a.m. Monday and 2:00 a.m. Tuesday.  Color me nervous.

Let's look over the checklist of everything I need to do to prepare for Sandy.

1. Buy bread, milk, and toilet paper
2. Get furniture off the deck
3. Tape windows
4. Invited Hurricane Irene to come last year and clear most of the trees from around the house

Yeah, I think we're ready. 

Prayers are welcome.  Seriously.  Pray for us.

638.  Stores with vodka (hurray!)
639.  Tenants are out of my house (there will be a blog on this)
640.  Knowing there is only so much we can do to prepare for the storms in our lives.  Trusting in God and his plan for us is the most we can do
641.  God is good    
642.  The faith in God given to me by the Holy Spirit

Maybe I'm a Disney princess

I think I may be a Disney princess.  After all, I'm 55 years old and I'm 50 lbs. overweight.  I wear glasses.  My hair is graying.  And my boobs are racing each other to my knees and I think the right one may be winning.  Yeah, I think that sounds like a Disney princess, don't you?  Maybe I'll name myself Bellerella.  Or Mulahontas.  Or Tiana-Ting.  Anyway, I think I may be the lost Disney princess and I'll tell you why.

I have found myself in conflict with an evil villain.

The most recent villain in my life entered just over a month ago.  Let's call him Sir Boringoldguy.  He is my newest co-worker.  Unfortunately, his boss (aka my boss) was on travel during this guy's first week of work.  Sadly, I was tasked with introducing this guy around campus and settling him into his office.  I was, essentially, being his "go-to" person.  Super sadly, this guy became quite attached to me.  Seriously, if I didn't know full well that I look exactly like the person described in the first paragraph of this post, I'd think he was trying to "come-on" to me.  And yet, I'm the more vivacious of the pair of us.  If you get my meaning.

Some of his dastardly deeds include coming to meetings with my boss 20 minutes early so he can sit down in the chair across my desk and talk to me.  I now know way too much about this guy.  I can tell you, I learned way too much about this guy in his first two weeks.  Here is a guy with no boundaries.  None.  I know his son is wanted by the police.  I know the entire story of why his son is wanted by the police.  I know he is hiding his son from the police.  I know he is still looking for another job because he believes he can do better than this.  I know how EVERYTHING was done on Capitol Hill in regard to environmental health and safety.  And you know what?  I don't care about any of it.  This guy is trying to bore me to death.

I've attempted to fight my nemesis off with comments like, "You know?  I'm busy just now and really don't have time to talk."  And this one, "You really shouldn't be telling me all this.  It's none of my business."  And my favorite, "Please leave.  I have a lot of work to do and I have someone coming to my office in a couple minutes."  This guy, evidently, has a force field and all my verbal arrows bounce right off of him.  Bummer.

Face to face combat is not the only evil trick he has up his sleeve.  He is also the master of lengthy, rambling emails.  His emails usually contain two or three forms of bullet points (arrows, dots, blocks...), at least one bolded word, a couple of words in ALL CAPS, italicization, and (my favorite) multiple colors and fonts.  He's the type of villain that uses 500 words when five words would suffice.  Oh! The humanity!

Unlike most Disney princesses, there is no Prince Charming around this place to rescue me from this evil villain.  None.  My boss is King Non-confrontational.  Even though I have actually gone into my boss' office and told him this guy is bothering me and will not stop coming over to my office to chat, my boss will do nothing.  I am an orphan and my king will not save me.     

I will become Princess Happy-merida-girl.  I will load my quiver with arrows that will pierce any force field.  I'll use "No, you can't sit there."  And, "You need to leave."  As well as, "Does it smell like mothballs in here or is that you?"  How about the always effective, "Go away, now."  Let's pray it does not come down to cursing by foul words and the all-powerful Human Resource curse.

I hope I end up living happily ever after.  Or, at least until the countdown on my I Quit This Job clock strikes zero.

The end.

634.  Two days with King Non-confrontational on travel
635.  The most beautiful fall weather, EVER!
636.  Co-workers I enjoy working with
637.  Memories of the other evil villains that have been my life that have been slain or conquered

What is man that you are mindful of him?

Psalm 8:1-9  O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I have always struggled with my worthiness.  Why have I been so blessed in this life?  Why do I have a husband that loves me so?  Why did I grow up in an intact family?  Why did God choose to bring me into this life that I am living?  Why?  why?  why?

Last night at my small group bible study we read this verse.  In fact, the verse was almost skipped because we were pressed for time.  I'm glad we didn't miss it. 

I have been made a little lower than an angel.  I have been made ruler over creation.  This is pretty big stuff.  This makes me pretty special.  If mankind has been created for a position such as this, it makes us pretty important in this world.  No wonder we have harnessed all it's resources and used it to our advantage.  But, you know what they say, "with great power comes great responsibility."  Yes, we have been given the position of authority over this earth, but we have also been given the responsibility to care for this earth.  This is the balance we need to exert. 

A question in the study asked if I had had any particular event in my life bring me to an understanding of who God is and what my relationship is to him.  I listened to the answers around the room.  Some spoke of the time in their lives (typically the college years) when they strayed from their faith and walked on the wild side.  It was interesting.  Kind of.  Sort of.  It would have been a lot more interesting if someone in the room had ACTUALLY had a racy past, but that wasn't the case.  Two members of the group are Naval Academy grads.  Nope, no racy past there.  One new graduate of William and Mary College who is also the preacher's kid.  Nope, no racy past there.  Others are government contractors or DOD employees.  And still, no sordid past.  I'm good with this.  I'm glad I study with so many upstanding citizens.  I'm glad to delve into the truth of God's word with these people.  I like them.

It was nice to know I didn't have the past of being a crack whore to fit in.  The event that changed my understanding of who God is and the nature of my relationship with him came to me when I accepted his forgiveness for a sin, I thought, was unforgivable.  I had always heard that God was in the business of forgiving.  I confess, God forgives.  That's how it works.  Yet here I was, living with an event from my past that I thought was too horrible to be forgiven.  I lived with it for years.  Then, one day while driving home from one of my son's therapy sessions in Washington, DC, something someone said on a radio program made me remember that God forgives all sins.  Jesus died on the cross for each and every one of my sins.  None were left out.  Because of the blood of Christ, God forgives and it is all arrogance, on my part, to not accept his forgiveness.  Arrogance.  I was so surprised.  I hadn't thought of it as arrogance.  I'd always thought of it as unworthiness.

But here I am.  A being created a little lower than the angels.  This is why I can be proud of who I am.  This is why the creator of the universe is mindful of me.  This is why he knows the number of hairs on my head.  The arrogance is not in how I live as a daughter of the King.  The arrogance is in thinking I know better than the King.

630.  The freedom of living with forgivness
631.  The joy of studying the word of God with like-minded people
632.  Christian radio stations
633.  Little moments of time to myself to ponder who I am in this world

National Geographic

Linking with Emily at Imperfect Prose on Thursday.

Setting a goal

Boss:  Happygirl you need to set a goal for yourself this year.

Me:  Ok, I will.

Boss:  So, what is your goal?

Me:  I’d like to take a creative writing class.

Boss:  Oh?  How would that apply to your job?

Me:  I think it will make next year’s annual budget report a real page turner.

I'm linking with G-man for a Friday Flash 55

625.  Juice making with my son this morning
626.  Oyster Festival (nothing better than a belly full of beer and oysters)
627.  Leaves tuning colors and starting to fall
628.  Apartment hunting (aka as dreaming of a place on the beach)
629.  Waking myself to reality and being satisfied with what I have