Chapter 34: Precious Old Man

I have always wished that I could be placed in a situation in which I could knowingly make someone else's day brighter. I try to smile at people frequently, because that has been known to make my day brighter on occasion. We are not, in a worldly perspective, financially wealthy people but I have always wished that I could give money away to those who might be in greater need of it that I. Today I was blessed enough to be in a situation where I could help someone out.

I was in the checkout line at the grocery store with my baby girl when an elderly man came up behind us in line. He was alone, dressed in a weathered dapper suit and carrying an oxygen tank with him as he "ooh"d and "aah"d over sweet Mollie. He had a pin on the lapel of his suit coat that looked like a seal of some country, which by his accent I am guessing was Ireland? Softly speaking, he commented on my daughter's beautiful brown eyes and on the cookie in her hand. With every word I had an overwhelming feeling come over me that I wanted to do something for the frail gentleman.

He didn't have much more than a basket's worth of groceries and I, for one of the few times in my life, felt that I could make a difference on some scale for this man. I gestured to the cashier subtly that I would be paying for his groceries and she nodded. The man pulled out his wallet, and as I helped put his groceries into his cart then paying for the both of our groceries, I could see it dawn on him what I had done.

I have to be honest in telling that I was legitimately afraid that this sweet looking little man would be offended at the gesture, I don't know why. Instead he patted his chest just over his heart (I have seen many in my family do this same gesture) and whispered thank you through his tears. I told him to have a wonderful day and as I walked away, I heard him say to the cashier "I am 90 years old and I have never had anyone do something like that for me."

I am not posting this looking for recognition or trying to boast, but his genuine gratitude rocked my perspective on so many things. To be nearly a century old and to have never had someone do something of such little effort for him made me realize how many opportunities that I probably have had, but never took advantage of to brighten someone else's day. There are so many simple things that can be done on a daily basis to help people of all ages around us.

I have been awakened to the things that I take for granted, and the time that I waste on trivial things that could be better spent serving others.

What a blessing this day has been to me, to know that I had the courage to try to help someone and to have that help accepted.

I will be actively looking for those opportunities from now on and I encourage anyone else who may feel something lacking in their lives to simply SERVE.

Chapter 33: WHERE IS IT?!

My debit card is missing. Only it's not really missing missing. It's somewhere in my 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment.

Rodney was paying a bill online yesterday morning in the living room with the card while I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

The internet was being slow so he moved into the bedroom closer to the router.

Mollie was watching Sesame Street.

We didn't leave the house at all until we had already searched for an hour, so it's somewhere here.

29 hours later and it's still missing.

I have checked every corner and vent, under every blanket and bed, inside every shoe and cupboard. I cannot find that stupid thing!!

Because I know that it is in my house, I'm not worried that it's being used or wanting to cancel it, but the mere idea that it is inside my friggin' fraggin' house is making me crazy!

Chapter 32: Babysitting Part 4

Umm...

One of the chickens just laid an egg in the sink.

Chapter 31: Babysitting Part 3

Tonight the parents come home from their trip!

Yesterday was quite the day! The family has a couple of black labs, one of which is a bird hunting veteran, and a chicken coop in their front yard...Need I go on? :] The dogs somehow broke a hole in the fence surrounding the chickens and the 3 youngest kids and I got to play rescue for a solid 45 minutes! The older of the two dogs, the mastermind, managed to get a chicken then he'd bring it away from the coop and the puppy would join in on the fun. She was the pouncer and the older dog was the biter. There was about 5 inches of snow so it was a mess trying to grab the dogs away from the chickens, or trying so shield the chickens from the playful puppy that none of us could seem to catch!

It seemed as though once we saved one chicken, we'd turn around and they had another! We did that 3 times but finally got enough control of the dogs to put them in their kennel. Luckily, 2 of the 3 chickens survived and now they're in a big sink in the laundry room by the garage...

I have no idea what I should be doing with them.

They keeping making little sounds and every time my little girl hears them she goes over to the door and yells "Chicken, hayyy!" which translates into "Chicken, you're okay!" :]

As chance would have it, I had already had some chicken in the crockpot for dinner...So...

Nope. Kidding!

Chapter 30: Babysitting Part 2

Holy moley. Things were crazy last night/today!

Whill the kids and I were watching a movie last night, I kept hearing a noise that I could not place. Until an hour later when I went into a different room and realized a low roaring sound I was hearing was a WOLF!

HA! Got ya.

What I was hearing was actually the wind trying to tear apart the house. When it first started it sounded almost like a muffled sound of a semi going by or maybe even a low flying plane, but once it picked up, there was no mistaking what it really was. It was cold enough outside but with it the wind brought a new meaning to the word. My reaction every time I went into the garage or outside was...well, it looked a lot like this..

When we woke up this morning, we were all half frozen to death (exaggeration) and we realized the power was out and had been for quite a few hours judging by the temperature. So, we all got dressed and after we called the power company to inform them of the power outage (the wind had knocked trees into power lines and made a huge mess) we decided to go out for breakfast! It was well worth the wait and the crowd for the heat alone, but the food was delicious and filling as well. After killing some time at the mall we figured we'd pray all the way back to the house that we'd see the porch light on as we drove up....and we did!

I don't know about everyone else, but there's nothing like a painful winter bite that makes me grateful for the food, shelter and heat that my family enjoys.

Chapter 29: Babysitting Part 1

I am babysitting for some old friends for 6 days starting this afternoon. I used to watch these kids years ago and now I am getting to watch them again, only this time in a different house and not just for date night! :]

Truly amazed at how grown up they have become and, while they like to pick on each other like any siblings, how much they seem to care and look out for one another. They have reminded me how much I liked, and still like, them and how much fun we are going to have this week!

We are going to have a blast and I know my little girl is going to love the attention from some more attentive little Mothers! :]

Chapter 28: Grr

We just dropped Rodney off at work. We sat in a spot for maybe 5 minutes before he went inside and I'm pretty sure I got a parking ticket. The guy was practically chasing me down as we pulled away with his stupid little handheld gizmo to copy down my license plate number.

I just burned lunch.

My nose feels stuffed up, but it keeps running.

I want to lock myself in my room with a mountain of junk food and hours of Netflix.

Flo must be approaching.

I think I'll move to Australia.