Yay Friday!!!

Going "North" with Cletus this weekend, last weekend was fantastic (more on that later), been crazy busy at work this week which made the time fly, went to Yoga on Monday and kickboxing last night...however...I've come to the conclusion that people that bruise easily should not be in any sort of contact sport. I loved it though!!!

~Peanut


"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."
-Doug Larson

Ben Stein's Final Column

For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called 'Monday Night At Morton's.' (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. ?Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time.

Ben Stein's Last Column...

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I 'slug' it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is 'eonlineFINAL,' and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end.

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened.? I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a 'star' we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S.soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.
By Ben Stein



I don't think that needs any additional comments. Thank you Ben Stein.

~Peanut

Tinley Park, here we come!!!

This weekend, Cletus and I will be heading to Tinley Park for some MMA and Muay Thai action! Yay!! He's finally getting in the ring. Hopefully he and the other dojo peeps will do good, I'm sure they will!

~Peanut


"The difference between try and triumph is a little umph."
-Author Unknown

Discovery, happiness, and fulfillment

So, there I was last Tuesday night, sitting at a table at church for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). I'm taking these classes, and am about to be baptized. I wasn't feeling well at all that night. I don't think anything that was said really stuck in my head, except for this reading...here's the link if you don't have time to read it right now: http://www.frpaulnewton.com/ithirstforyou.html It was so profound, and I really felt a connection to it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I Thirst for You
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock …”

(Rev. 3:20)

It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter.

And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come - always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension - a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father ("As much as the Father has loved me, I have loved you..” [Jn. 15:10]). I come - longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind all your wounds. I bring you My light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I might carry you and all of your burdens; with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life: and My peace I give to still your soul.

I know you through and through - I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years, and l have always loved you - even in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you - not for what you have or haven't done - I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own image. It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed My Blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life; and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.

I know what is in your heart - I know your loneliness and all your hurts - the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love - how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasure - with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? “Come to Me all you who thirst. . .” (Jn. 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine - to the point of dying on a cross for you.

I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you: I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you - that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials. I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open tome, come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life - and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart.

Don't you realize that My Father already has a perfect plan to transform your life, beginning from this moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and take charge of your life - and I will. I promise you before My Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why would I do this? Because I THIRST FOR YOU. All I ask is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will do all the rest.

Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home. Sin can never satisfy you, or bring the peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When you give Me your sins, you give Me the joy of being your Saviour. There is nothing I cannot forgive and heal: so come now, and unburden your soul.

No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life; there is one thing I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change: I THIRST FOR YOU -just as you are. You don't need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me, and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day - standing at the door of your heart, and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at My Heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there - for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: “I THIRST...” (Jn. 19:28).Yes, I thirst for you- as the rest of the psalm-verse I was praying says of Me: “I looked for love, and I found none...” (Ps. 69:20). All your life I have been looking for your love - I have never stopped seeking to love you and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before.

Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit: “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake. Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock ... Open to-Me, for I THIRST FOR YOU…”

This whole experience with RCIA has really opened my eyes. And my heart!!! I have met some really amazing people who I am now more than happy to call my friends. I've never felt more at home than I do at this church. Thank you to all of you, I am forever grateful for all that you have done for me, and for all that you have brought into my life. Thank you.

~Peanut

"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith."

-Author Unknown

Hehehee

Check out my new clock :-) I know, I'm a nerd...

4 days to go until I get baptized too! Yay!!!

~Peanut


"Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out."
-Michael Burke

One Wonderful Year

Well, today marks mine and Cletus' anniversary. We met 1 year ago today, and who would have thought we would be buying a house, engaged and planning a wedding right now!! What a year it has been. We've had rough times and arguments and stuff, but the way I feel when I'm with him is more than enough to get me through any day. He makes me feel like there is no one else around, even if we're in a room full of people. I love him with all of my heart and soul. I can't wait to make the man that looks sexy in jeans and an t-shirt, or all dressed up, my husband next year.

I love you Cletus :-)

~Peanut


"Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots."
-Hoosier Farmer

I would like to have one question answered…

What’s with all the negativity, lack of respect, and lack of common courtesy? I can remember when people would say ‘thank you’ for opening the door for them, or actually say ‘excuse me’ when they practically run you over in the store. I remember when people would actually stop to help when someone was in trouble. Hell…I remember when people didn’t have to be AFRAID to help people out!!! But lately, it seems as though people just don’t care.

Let’s talk common courtesy. Just yesterday, I was walking through Target, and 3 people plowed by me without even a second glance. There was one lady though, that actually said ‘oh, excuse me dear’ or something along those lines. WOW!!! Someone actually said excuse me!!! I am so used to being the one who practically gets run over, then when the person gets by me and is still within earshot I say ‘excuse you’. Then you get the people that don’t move when you say ‘excuse me’. Like they’re the most important person in the world, and no one else matters…whatever…you’re no better than anyone else in the room. Now, I left work early on Wednesday because I wasn’t feeling well. When I pulled into my apartment complex, there was a woman in a minivan stuck in her parking space because of all the snow. I went to grab my stuff and head inside, but I changed my mind and went to help her out. So here’s me…4”heels, dress pants, sick as a dog, digging snow out from under her tires, and pushing her out.

Now on to the negativity. Why do people have to take a very happy experience and turn it negative? If there’s a party being planned, and 100 people are invited with the ‘admission’ being a dish to pass, don’t whine and complain about having to cook for ‘all those people’. Your dish doesn’t have to feed everyone, just needs to be available if people would like to sample it. Besides, if you’re just going to complain about it, give a gift to the person that the party is for, and don’t make anything!!! Back off a bit, and just don’t participate!!! No one wants to hear your negativity anymore than they want to hear that their pet just died or something.

What’s the definition of respect? Well, one I found was “High or special regard”. With that in mind…if someone says ‘hey, don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of it this afternoon or tomorrow’, what would you do? I would leave it alone. If the person specifically said ‘don’t worry about it’ I wouldn’t touch it! Oh well…maybe I’m just weird…

What are your thoughts?

**sigh**
~Peanut


“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”-Malcolm S. Forbes

Happy Leap Day!

Today might turn out to be a pretty big day for me and Cletus :-) **Crosses fingers**

Next year, today won't happen! Take advantage of the "extra" time, be with people you love. :-)

~Peanut


"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."
-William Faulkner

A Good Day

So this morning, I got up like I normally do. It was just another day. I cleaned the 2" of snow off of my car, and I went and did my workout. When I started to head back to my apartment, my phone beeped at me letting me know that I had a text message. It was Cletus wishing me a happy birthday. "Oh yeah!" I thought..."today is my birthday!" Yeah, I know...pretty dumb of me to 'forget' that it's my birthday right? Anyhoo...it made me feel really good that he thought of me first thing in the morning (love you!!!). :-) When I got to work, I got an email from my mom, two from co-workers, and 3 phone calls (so far)!!! It made me feel good :-)

So yeah, happy birthday to me!!!

~Peanut


"Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it."
-Jacques Prévert

Happy Valentine's Day

So, today started out pretty crappy. I didn't want to get out of bed, some stupid flatbed tow truck driver parked about 4" away from the passenger side of my car so now there's mud all over the back of my coat because I had to shimmy between the truck and my car to scrape off my windows. I've been stressing out at work for the last couple of weeks with pretty much no end in sight yet, and all I could think about today was the fact that I REALLY just wanted to crawl back into bed with a good book....

Luckily, Cletus helped me cheer up. I don't think he even realizes it though. I love you honey, happy Valentine's Day. :-)

And to all of you that actually read this, happy Valentine's Day. Hope you had a good day!

~Peanut


"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."
-Author Unknown

Feeling "Wanted"

So, up until about...I don't know...11 months ago, I had almost completely forgotten what it was like to feel wanted. I was in a pointless relationship for 2 years and had pretty much decided that I really didn't have any friends. Well, then I met Cletus :-) I also started going to RCIA classes in which I met a bunch of really nice people!! I finally have a very meaningful relationship with a fantastic, wonderful, amazing man, and I have friends again!!! Yay!!!

~Peanut


"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
-Anais Nin

Ash Wednesday

So today is my first Ash Wednesday. I know, I know...Ash Wednesday has always been around but this year is my first year actually "participating" in it. Lent is starting, and that will be a challenge for me, but a journey at the same time. For the next 40 days, I am giving up something that I THROROUGHLY enjoy eating!!! It's all for a good reason though. Then, come Holy Saturday...I'm gonna be baptized!

~Peanut


"Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps." Luke 9:23

A Good Read

I got this from my mom in an email today. It's pretty good!


HOT CHOCOLATE

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups -- porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each others cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.

~Peanut


“If you don't set a baseline standard for what you'll accept in life, you'll find it's easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that's far below what you deserve.”
-Anthony Robbins

Sad Day...

So, today I found out that one of our outside offices is closing. I'm going to miss them :-( It was a lot of fun while it lasted though!! I will definitely be keeping in touch with one of the people from that office.

~Peanut


"Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most."
-Unknown

Whispering

There has been a shitload of whispering going on at work in the last week, and it's driving me nuts...
That is all.

~Peanut


“Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction.”
-Edward Teller

Rules for Driving in Snow...

1) If you're only going to drive 20 mph wherever you go, just stay home, get someone else who isn't terrified of driving in the snow to take you...or walk - it's good for you!
2) If you have 4 wheel drive, use it. But remember...it doesn't help you stop any better.
3) However, just because you have 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can drive 90 mph with nothing to worry about.
4) If the roads are slick, don't tailgate. That's how accidents happen.
5) If you want to drive like a bat out of Hell, be prepared for damages done to your vehicle or yourself.
6) If you've never driven in the snow...well...during a storm is not the best time to start!
7) If you see an accident, don't stop in the middle of the road or slow down to 5 mph to stare...it's rude to the people involved in the accident, and to the other drivers behind you that just don't care.
8) And of course...be careful!

Have a nice day!

~Peanut


“Caution is the eldest child of wisdom”
-Victor Hugo

**SIGH**

Ok, so Cletus and I have been engaged for 3 months now. We have the church reserved, the Reception location taken care of, the photographer, and we signed with a dj last night! We're moving right along. We also get a credit on invitations through our dj service! Yay! So I guess you could say we killed 2 birds with one stone last night.

We're both very excited about the dj too. He's going to make this a party to remember!!

~Peanut


“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”
-Oscar Wilde

Happy Monday! (FINALLY)

Yippee! It’s Monday, and for once, it’s a good one!! This weekend was ok. It definitely had its rough and/or stressful points, but all in all, it was good!

Friday night, Cletus and I went to church to give blood. He got through it all with no problem cause of his donor card, but I had to actually sit down and answer a bunch of questions first. One question was ‘Have you been out of the country in the last 12 months?’ Well…yeah! I went to Ireland in October for a week, and I had actually kinda forgotten about my trip to Cancun last January. When that came up, she asked me where in Mexico I had gone. Well, we stayed in Cancun the whole week, but we drove to Chichen Itza for a day to check out the Mayan Ruins (very cool by the way, I highly recommend it to everyone). Well, come to find out, Cancun and Chichen Itza are both high Malaria risk areas. Now, here’s the kicker…I came back from Cancun on 1-21-07…the date Friday was 1-18-08…I couldn’t donate blood because it had only been 361 days. I can go back in 2 more days and donate without a problem. That sucked…

Saturday, my mom and I went to the Rock Financial Showplace for the Bridal Expo. Once again, I entered a bunch of drawings - and I’m actually surprised that my email account isn’t completely blowing up. After that, I headed back down this way to meet Cletus and his cousin (and some random guy that was sitting at another table…I don’t know, talk to Cletus about that one) at Hooter’s, then to a quick meeting with one of the dj’s that I had talked to at the show. After the meeting, we decided to make it a “low-key” night. We just stayed in and played some Guitar Hero for a couple hours. I’ve only played one other time, so I was pretty happy with the 94% I got on one of the songs!

Sunday brought church, a somewhat heated discussion, and some heavy lifting. Cletus and I got an entertainment center from a friend of my mom. We had to drive out, get the thing out of the basement, into his truck, then into my apartment. Now, I didn’t do much lifting until it got to my apartment…hehehehee. However!! Cletus rigged it so that I can now record American Idol on Tuesday’s since I am not home to watch it. Here’s the highlight of the weekend though…we were sitting in my apartment, and my phone rang. It showed up as an ‘unknown id’ which I never answer. Luckily they left a message. When I called back I found out that my name had been drawn for a 3-day, 2-night stay at Nassau, Costa Rica, or Cancun. YYEEEEESSSS!!!! We have 2 years to use it, so it will be available for our honeymoon. Yippee!! It’s only accommodations, but it is all-inclusive. We can extend it at our own expense if we want to though.

Sweet huh????

~Peanut


“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.”
-Susan Polis Schutz

Roar...

So, it's Friday (yay!!!) and I just want to go to bed, or cry, or something. Ugh...I hope the second half of the day goes faster than the first!!

This weekend should be ok though. I'm going to another Bridal Show tomorrow with my mom and my maid of honor, who - rumor has it - will be engaged soon!!! Early congrats to her!!! Maybe some more planning, hell, maybe I'll win a honeymoon tomorrow...THAT would be awesome.

Anyhoo...lunch is almost over, and then it's back to 'the grind'.

~Peanut


"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of."
-Charles Richards

Music

Ok. I absolutely love music. I don't think I would be able to get through life if there wasn't any. It's kinda weird though. I go through "spurts" of one kind of music at a time. One week I'll be totally into rock, the next week I can't get enough hip-hop/dance/r&b. Lately...it's been country. Yes, country. There was one point - I think it was for about a year - that all I listened to was country. The best part is, it can change in 5 minutes. I could go from Carrie Underwood to Clutch in the blink of an eye!!

I wonder where next week will take me!!

~Peanut


"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."
-Leopold Stokowski