Show me the MONEY.

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but I decided to break the silence with something that has been on my mind lately.  I have been struggling with this whole concept of a budget and spending money wisely.  I recently went through a job change, which is very stressful, cue the stress spending.  You almost don't realize you are doing it until afterwards, when you are looking at your bank account dwindle.  I have always prided myself on having a nice cushion or as Dave Ramsey would say "Emergency Fund".  The cushion took a hit...a big hit.  So now I am freaking out, because as most of you know, women love security.  Emergency fund=security.


Here is the crazy part.  If the timing of the old/new job would have shifted a few days, I would have had the potential to make extra money in the midst of my job shift.  But...timing didn't shift...and I didn't make extra money, so now I am stuck wondering why.  I think this is a teachable moment for God (you know how parents always talk about teachable moments with their children).  He was going to use this to teach me something about wise money management, something about WHAT I spend my money on, something about HOW I spend my money.


Then I saw this:





Dang it...........So I am now on a mission to be an excellent manager of my God's money. 


Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters. Either he'll love the one and hate the other, or he'll despise the one and be devoted to the other.  No one can serve both God and money."

When Christy and Jennie Disagree

An excerpt from a real conversation between Christy and Jennie:

Setting: the mall, watching a video on a screen.

Christy: That looks like Justin Bieber with shorter hair.
Jennie: Ha, Justin Bieber with shorter hair.
C: It really looks like Bieber, though.
J: That is Justin Bieber with shorter hair! He got a haircut and he's singing with Rascal Flatts!
(both watching video)
J: He does not look cuter with shorter hair.
C: I know, I know. He's cute with whatever hair. He looks cute all the time.
J: No, I said he does not look cuter with shorter hair.
....
....
.....
C: Well, I guess we'll just agree to disagree.

FREE ebook download

I finally did it. I published an ebook of my poems (you can read a bunch of my poetry at my secret writing blog). Those poems and more are now available for download as an ebook here. And, for the month of May, it's available for FREE using this coupon code: ZX95YSo go ahead and download, read and enjoy!
If you end up downloading (and it's free, so why not?) I really hope you like the poems!
So... now I'm off to work on the next ebook...

More Texts From My Mother

(I already forewarned her this was going to happen.)

This past weekend, Jennie, KatieClack & I had our amazing big event: concert & silent auction to raise money for charity: water. And what success! We have online donations totaling $548, which will provide 27 people with clean water who did not previously have access to it! (And that's not even all of the money from the concert!)

But, as you can imagine, it was a stressful weekend. So my mother texted me a message that I'm sure she hoped would be calming. And yes, I felt much calmer when I finished laughing after I read it. Here you go!
From: Mom & Dad
My prayer for u is to ... Relax and be filled with joy, as you allow God to bring the blessings. I PRAY THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY EVERYTHING TDAY .... FYI I DON'T know why caps were on or how they came off.
I love u and am proud of u.
m
xoxo

Ahhhhhh, Moms are the best!
When I told her I was going to blog that text, she wrote back: Is nothing sacred? Who knew I was so quotable!
Well, Mom, we all know.

New Advice from Cassidy

The latest advice from my 5-year-old niece:

Cassidy: AUNT CHRISTY! Your jeans have a hole in them!
Me: I know.
Cassidy: How did you get that?
Me: I bought them with the hole. I didn't know they had a hole when I bought them. Isn't that silly?
Cassidy (laughing): YES. That's so silly!
Me: Seriously, though, listen to me. Never buy jeans with holes in them.
Cassidy: I won't! That's too silly!
Me: No - really. Pay attention to this: Promise me that you won't buy jeans with holes in them, no matter what the style is.
Cassidy: I won't! You're so silly!


Another day:
Cassidy (holding up a DVD in a store): I saw this one! It's about a girl who kisses a frog and he turns into a prince and then they get married!
Me: Wow.
Cassidy: But .... NEVER kiss a frog.
Me: Why? Because then you have a marry him?
Cassidy: No, because then you turn into a frog.
Me: (laughs)
Cassidy: Really. NEVER. KISS. A. FROG.
Me: Okay.

For Once, I'm Ahead of the Game

I've blogged before about being late to the party when it comes to catching on to things. For example, here are some things that have recently happened in my life (and by "recent" I mean, in the past 2 months or so):
* I got Internet service at home. For the first time in my adult life. Think about that.
* I just got super into the television show Veronica Mars. Which was canceled in like 2007. You guys.... it was really good.
That's all I can think of right now.

But I actually have something to share that you didn't hear about 5 year ago. Probably.
1. Stop whatever you're doing and go and listen to Concerning Lions right now. RIGHT NOW. Seriously. GO.
I'll even do all the work! First listen to Preacher's Son (it's even better live, if you can believe it). Then listen to Bell Jar. Then Albatross. Then Young Curmudgeon. Then, for the love of all that is good, just buy the CD!
And I'll leave you with these amazing lyrics that I love:

(From Young Curmudgeon)
Run to him like a boy runs to the sea 
Weigh his gentle hand down with your ring  
The one I’ve often seen and hoped you might one day make mine 
You listen to my long withheld complaint 
I deserve your love and he your hate 
You say before you go though he was dead. He’s alive!
And I won’t raise my voice or hand against your choice to set your arm round the son you lost 
And I will love your earth and grow to see the worth of who he is and who I am not 

(From Albatross)
I’m nothing like the boy I was
Or the man I want to be
But you’re still the girl I love
Forgive and wait for me
Forgive and wait for me

Yeesh, I love those lyrics.
And now:
2. Mackenzie Scott is amazing and young and has a gorgeous voice. Like... the type of voice you hear, and you're like, "Maybe my voice sounds like that..." so then you sing crazy loud to songs and suddenly you're like, "Nope. No. My voice isn't like hers."
Listen to Moon and Back. This girl is in college. Studying stuff, and not using her voice to sweep American Idol. It will only make her better.
Thanks, Nashville, for having such amazing musicians!!

April - National Poetry Month

I had no idea!
April is NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

This is very exciting for me, as I've been putting some poetry on my writing (secret) blog.
And... Just last night I was thinking about my favorite poet, the mystery of a man that was Edgar Allan Poe.
I know, he's a weird choice, but he's so quirky and strange and wrote such great, creepy stories!
But really, it's his rhyming that has always captured my heart. I love the rhythm, the tempo, the beats to his words.
Here are some bits of his poetry, some of the ones I love.
From Annabel Lee:

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

From The Bells:

Hear the sledges with the bells -
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Ahhh, just the beginning-- read the rest for the whole story of the bells. So many sounds, so many stories.


Not rhyming, but still amazing...From The Tell-Tale Heart (we had an awesome English teacher in 7th grade ((Mr. Ferraro)), who had us memorize the beginning of this story, and my sister still shouts the opening lines anytime I say Poe's name):

TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

Oh my gosh. I love that story. I love that you are so convinced right from the start of his madness as he tells you he's not.

And of course, I'll quote The Raven, evermore. (Same English teacher had us memorize this poem -- in its entirety? I can't remember. But he was a great teacher. Always so excited about this stuff):

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Oh, Lenore....