Daylight Savings...

The other day I am on my way home from work and decided to stop by the bank to deposit some checks.

I pull in to the drive through {thinking, no lines...sweet!} and they weren't open. hmmm???

I started to wonder if here in Parker the banks close on Fridays or if I had missed some national holiday or if they closed on account of the 12 inches of snow we got the previous day.

and then I looked at the clock, it was 7 pm!

But you wouldn't have known that by the amount of sun that was still shinning.

Daylight savings you are messing with my mind

---but I still LOVE YOU!

Pick a Number!

Okay, lets play a little blog game...

Pick a number between 1 and 3

Picked yet????

Now please go to the corresponding number on the list below and if you have time, please say a prayer for that person/family. I have changed the names of those that the Lord has placed on my heart so that they can remain anonymous. However, the Lord knows whom I have in mind.

I wholeheartedly believe in the power of prayer. I know that the more people that approach the throne of God on behalf of another, the more it power of the Holy Spirit is activated. In turn, I promise to pray for you if you would like to send me a prayer request at dafarmer06@aol.com.

**The List***

1. The "biggest family ever" has lost their home to mold this past October. They have 9 children total and had to leave all their belongings in the house and move to a different state to receive treatment for all the diseases that they acquired as a result of the mold. Please pray for their health, their finances and that their family would become closer in this time of trial

2. A lady "Ann" that I know has just been advised by the police to get a divorce from her abusive husband of 10 years and to file a restraining order. Ann is true follower of Christ and has never felt peace about this decision until now. Please pray for her safety and the direction of the Lord during this process. Divorce is never something that she wanted and she now struggles will feelings of failure.

3. My dear friend "Heidi" is going for a doctor's appointment this week to see if she may have breast cancer. She is only in her early 30's but her family has a history of cancer. She is such a giving person that always puts others before herself. Please pray for peace in her heart, that she would feel the Lord standing next to her as she walks through this week. Pray also for healing in her body.

A grenade in orange juice?!

So work was a tad bit challenging today...

The short story goes something like this: my colleague and I had to take an organ donor to the OR emergently, the surgeons refused to recover due a personal opinion, it was 3 am, we hadn't slept in almost 24 hours and we HAD to find a solution to the problem. Sound fun???

Not so much.

I am pretty sure that about 3 different doctors showed me how skilled they are at using as many 4 letter words as possible in one sentence and then they would hang up the phone before I can get a word in. Good thing I told them all my name was "Phyllis".

I had to get in contact with the neurosurgeon on the case, who had missed his wife's birthday party the day before and had the worst day ever in the ICU, to rewrite a brain death note. Let's just say he that he didn't jump at the opportunity to become lifelong friends.

The amusing part of the night was that he ended his phone conversation (on speaker phone) with me like this:

me: "thank you sir and I apologize for having to bother you so much tonight and appreciate your willingness to help...yada yada yada..."

him: "Good night and will you please be sure to put a hand grenade in the transplant surgeon's orange juice?"

me: "Sure!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here I am now, after 4 hours of sleep, needing some therapy...

R-E-T-A-I-L therapy!

Can you guess where I am headed?

Babies everywhere!

In the last 2 weeks, two of my friends have given birth to their first child:

Meet

-- Miss Chloe--

&

Sweet Avery

Two more of my friends are due in the next month...it is definitely the season for babies and I love it! :)

wanna save a life?

Tonight I was watching Extreme Home Makeover {and crying}. That show always gets me right when they "move that bus!" and the family starts jumping up and down and crying. The tears start rolling down my face and I turn to David saying, "that is just soooo sweet! " It's that emotional release that keeps me coming back each week. Man, ABC is so good at what they do!

The little girl on tonight's episode is dependent on blood transfusions to survive. Don't worry, I will graciously spare you all the nurse-y details about her disease process and instead, climb onto my soap-box about how great it is to donate blood. Ahem...

As a nurse I have given a total of 14 units of blood in one 12 hour shift to save someones life. That means 14 people that had to donate to save that one person. We all like to talk of changing the world and making a difference and this is one simple way that we are sure to SAVE a life. The little girl on Extreme Home Makeover made me conscious of the importance of this again tonight.

I grew up with giving blood as a part of my life. My parents both did it on a regular basis and I have done it since I was able to. When you go the worst part is of course the needle. But that part lasts about a 1/2 of a second {promise!}. The blood bank staff at the hospital always makes up for that brief pain by treating you like royalty. They will get you a warm blanket, your choice of juice {get cranberry, it's the best!} and some really delicious cookies {or fruit for those of you that are health conscious but remember that when you give blood you also burn calories}. Then you get a very stylish band aid and smiley-face sticker that says "Be Nice to Me, I Donated Blood Today" and don't forget the good feeling that you will have for the rest of the day knowing that you helped to save a life.

So who's in? :)

A Rollercoaster???

My job often requires that I travel throughout the states of Colorado and Wyoming to different hospitals. Most times we drive but since Grand Junction is about 4-5 hours from Denver and time is of the essence in organ donation, we have to fly.

Sound's glamorous doesn't it?

Not when you {loathe, hate, detest} dislike flying...

You see, something happened to me between the age of 20-25. Not only did I get married, graduated from college, start my career, and become a {dog} mom but I developed a very {rational} embarrassing fear of flying. I don't know when or how I developed this new quality but David is quite aware as I always have a death grip on his hand as we fly to various destinations. Even the slightest jolt sends me into convulsions because I am certain that the plane is about to plunge nose first into the ground.

When I think about it rationally, I know the statistics of me dying in a car crash is much higher than in a plane but it doesn't seem to help when I am actually up in the air.

Nevertheless, I must fly for my job and I must keep it all together. This week I experienced my first and second fly-out. Here is a picture of us me and my co-workers before the flight...

Obviously I survived since I am writing this post but it was not without a few pesky anxiety attacks. Before take-off I warned them all that I could, at any moment, feel the need to grab their hand with my notorious death-grip. They were very understanding as we took off in the little tin can with wings. Most of the flight was spent convincing me of what each bump and alarm noise meant as I did Lamaze breathing. hee, hee, whoooo, hee, hee, whooo...

24 hours later I was on my way home and the cab driver from the hospital to the airport told me to "pretend it's a roller coaster" during all the drops. I am sorry Mr. Cab-driver but there are a few differences between planes suspended thousands of feet up in the sky and roller coasters that are on tracks, bolted to the ground and inspected daily.

And between me and you, I also HATE roller coasters so his advice really didn't give me the warm fuzzies.

Like I said earlier, this week was not only my first fly-out but my second. What did I learn from these experiences? My fears may be a little bit unhealthy. The Lord is obviously trying to help understand that this is an area in which I haven't trusted Him. God is good that way, He is always teaching us. This may sound cliche but I realized I am afraid of is dying in a plane crash.

I don't want to die... and often times I feel more in control when have the illusion of control. When I am driving the car, I feel like I can prevent the crash. When I am running, I can prevent disease. But really, when it is my day to meet him, it will be my day. Whether I am in sky or sitting here writing this blog.

Hopefully this new realization will help me enjoy the next flight a little more. :)

Wedding Present

let's see, David and I have been married for about 2 1/2 years...

and I just opened the most wonderful wedding present ever {besides my hubby himself}!

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Greg gave us a Kitchen-Aid Mixer for a wedding gift and I hadn't ever broken it out of the box until a few weeks ago when we moved. That should be some kind of deadly sin...let me know if you find it in scripture. :)



Having never really made much from scratch I decided to give homemade pizza dough a try now that I had the {most wonderful} necessary equipment.


Here is the finished product...

The crust was a little thick but still yummy. Does anyone have a homemade cinnamon roll recipe they would like to share? That will be my next project.

{did you catch my sly mention about moving...yes, I have some good news to share soon!}

Oh how I love thee...

my Babe sure knows how to get on my good side....

the other night he came home with these

and these...

Ever tried the Sweet Tart jelly beans???

Can you tell I am not a chocolate-girl?

Give me candy any day!

Widsom

When we signed up for

we also bought a membership for

The two compliment eachother so nicely!

Turbo the "not-so-great"

Today we went over to our friends house and they suggested we bring Turbo along for a play-date of sorts...

You see, us couples that have yet to make babies of our very own seem to view our pets as children from time to time.

Like the time I was on the airplane sitting next to a very large man {extraneous information but necessary for effect} that was taking up most of my seat and smelled of onions. Well he talked to me the whole flight {when I didn't have my ipod blaring}. Towards the end of the flight, we got on the subject of pets {can you see where this is going?} and I offered to show him a picture of my Turbo. Now mind you, this is the first time that I had shared information about myself. Well he {rudely} politely tells me that he could care less about seeing any pictures of my {child} dog. Needless to say, I didn't ask to see any pictures of his children!

Anyway back to the play-date...

So we went over to Michelle and Eric's to hangout and they have two dogs and a cat {who thinks he is a dog}. All the pets are around 5-10 lbs {turbo size} so we thought our little guy would have a great time.

Friends, let me tell you that my happy, vibrant, playful Turbo was a complete scaredy cat {dog}. He tried to escape back to the car several times when we first arrived and firmly planted himself on the couch next to my purse {practically in my purse and yes, he could fit} for much of the afternoon. Even the promise of a "good boy treat" would not make him flinch.

How embarrassing!

My dog is shy, scared and is in no way living up to his name!

We would have done better to name him "Turd" as in a turd that lies in the grass.

I kept making excuses like any mom would:

• "Last summer he was traumatized by a huge black lab that tried to eat him."


• "He didn't sleep well last night."


• "He hasn't been himself since the move."


• "He must be coming down with the flu."


• "He's not like this at home..."

He eventually warmed up to the idea of getting off the couch but spent the rest of the afternoon by our feet.

What are we going to do with our little guy?

He is in need of some socialization with {kids} dogs his age.

Any {moms} pet-owners free for a play-date?

Happiness

Today I drove by a billboard that said,

"Happiness is having an organized closet."

Amen to that you clever billboard-makers!

However, I must personalize and make the slight adjustment to change the word closet to house or maybe even life...

But then again, that may be a little too much to ask.

:)

The Journey Begins

Tomorrow, I am officially going to begin my half-marathon training. I use a program on Runner's World that takes your most recent race time, the distance that you are training for and your desired intensity, puts it in a mathematical formula and poof! out comes a special program designed for s-u-c-c-e-s-s!

Last year I ran a half marathon in Steamboat (in 2 hrs 7 minutes) and this year I am going to run the Rock n' Roll in Seattle (I think I beginning to repeat myself in these posts...).

Well our life has been a little crazy {actually the new version of normal} and my running has not been up to par so I am starting a bit early on the training this time. I am also planning on doing some cross training along with the running this time so I look a little less exhausted at the end of the race. I am also going figure out what food {anti-diarrheals} my stomach most tolerates during running so that I don't spend so much personal time in the less than pleasant {disgusting} port-a-potty, ugh!

Honestly, I am a bit nervous about being able to stay consistent with the training. Since my new job is a bit difficult to plan around, I am afraid I won't be able to stay on schedule. And if you know me, you know I am a planner that loves to stick to what's been planned {some call it anal}.

In case you didn't catch it, that was the {un}official warning that my blog may take some form of a running diary for the next four months...

Wish me luck!