Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Leftovers (I'm on my own).

Tuesday - Steak sandwiches. PW's version.

Wednesday - Mexican pizza.

Thursday - Out.

Friday - We're going to a family get-together for the holiday. I don't know yet what I'm expected to bring.

See more menus here.

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Before and After Update #1

Since I don't want to come to July 24 and be scrambling to get my before and after accomplished, I'm planning on posting updates on what I've accomplished.

So far? Not so much.

Here's what my closet looked like before. And here's my closet now:





Progress, yes?

However, here's what my bookcase & the floor in front of it now look like.



Yeah, that's a big mess. Most of it was pulled out from the closet and needs to find a new home, possibly in the nearest trashcan/recycle bin.

And yes, I did start on the "maybe I'll work on this" project rather than doing anything on the real project I said I'd do. 'cause that makes a lot of sense.

Will

There has been very few times in my life when I absolutely positively 100% knew that a course of action was God's will for me. The first occurred the summer after I graduated from high school, I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I needed to go to a different college than the one I'd planned. It was late enough in the summer where it was impossible to go that year, but I immediately set in motion a transfer.

This absolute knowledge was both a good thing and surprisingly, not so good. It was very good in that even in the face of it not making sense for logical reasons, I knew I was supposed to go there. When it looked like finances would be an issue (I was giving up a full academic scholarship at my original school), I still knew that God would provide, since I was following His will. When my three years there were difficult, I still knew I was where I was supposed to be.

What could possibly be not so good then? (I refuse to call it bad; just because I don't understand it or wish it was different doesn't make it bad.) I think the complete clarity and epiphany-like awareness of His will once has made it harder for me to hear His whispers and gentle nudges. I'm still waiting and hoping for absolute confidence that I know what He wants form me again. Once I graduated I've never again been sure if I'm really where He wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do. And yet I know of course He's not going to let me be or do what He doesn't will, still, I long for that surety I once had.

I feel like I've spent a lot of years semi-stumbling from one thing to another without much clear direction, hoping that open doors indicated where I should go. Two graduate programs and a couple of huge moves based in large part on a faint whisper that it was what I should do. It's hard then sometimes to explain to people why I've ended up where I am now - well, you see, I just felt like it was where I should go

My current job is like that - I was flattered to get the offer (who doesn't like being called for a job instead of having to go out and find one and apply) and the concerns I had about the position seemed to be outweighed by the other pieces falling smoothly into place.

Sometimes it seems like I'm paralyzed about decisions - holding still until I feel a nudge (or shove), but I'm not sure if this is the wisest way of trying to discern God's will.

I would love to weigh decisions with Godly friends and mentors, but I've found the few times that I have been absolutely confident of decisions I had the people I'd have gone to for counsel arguing against the decision I know is right; and this without me asking for their advice (why would I when I know what I'm to do?) But maybe I should still weigh decisions when I'm not certain, and just do what I know to when that's the case.

Thankful Tuesday

• My husband is wonderful and I am so blessed to have him in my life. Last week I had a really really rough day and he was so fantastic.
  
  
• I'm doing much much better after said rough day last week.
  
  
• July is shaping up to be a very nice month - a brief vacation for us and work is going well so yay to that.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - We're going out to a nearby Mexican place. I am addicted to their hot sauce bar.

Tuesday - Rachel Ray's Inside-out Pizza-dilla Margerita. We've had them before and they are delicious and super easy.

Wednesday - Baked spaghetti. I may use Tammy's Recipe, or I may make up my own version. I know I'll be making it without the ground beef.

Thursday - Burgers on the grill. (This would be why the baked spaghetti is meat-free - I hate to use too much red meat in one week)

Friday - Maybe some homemade pizza if I have the energy. Or else it'll be leftovers or sandwiches.


For more menus, go to Organizing Junkie.

TGIF

You know, I don't usually feel like that - counting down the days until Friday hits and the weekend arrives. But this week has seemed very very long and I am happy to have the weekend here so I can get caught up on some important things. Like sleep.

See, I haven't been sleeping well this week. I've gotten to bed on time (except for Tuesday night when I started reading a book and the next thing I knew it was an hour past my bedtime). I fall asleep fairly easily; it's just that I then wake up. And wake up. And wake up again and again until finally I'm almost glad when it's time to get up for real because the little snippets of sleep just aren't working for me.

It's not that odd for me to not sleep well, but about 99% of the time the problem is with the falling asleep part; once I'm out I usually stay that way until morning. I don't know what to do about this but I'd like it to stop so I can get some real rest.

It's not an excess of caffeine; I have a big cup of tea in the morning and then that's it (well, except for some chocolate but that's nothing new). I don't think I'm excessively stressed. I really have no idea what the deal is, but I'm ready for it to stop now.

Birthday Books

What books did I get for my birthday? I'm so glad you asked, because I always like to talk about books.

• Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I've had this book checked out from the library for awhile and every recipe I've tried has been terrific. When I saw the Amazon price I couldn't pass it up.
  
  
• The Literary Study Bible (ESV). I've been drooling over this one for awhile.
  
  
• Change Your Life Daily Bible and Journal. I love having different Bible versions to switch between - when I finish reading through in one version I switch to another and start over again.
  
  
• Breaking Free by Beth Moore. This one is due in large part to BooMama, who has talked about this book so much in such a great way that I wanted to read it.
  
  
• The One-Year Book of Praying Through the Bible by Cheri Fuller. I am gradually building up a great collection of books on prayer. And speaking of books on prayer...
  
  
• Before the Throne of God: Focus on Prayer by Carol J. Ruvolo (Light for Your Path series). I have read nothing but great things about her books, so I wanted to try one.
  
  
• His Word in My Heart: Memorizing Scripture for a Closer Walk with God. by Janet Pope. Amazon reviews looked good.
  
  And then I got some studies on specific books. I tried three different series, just to see which one I like the most.
  
  
• Growing in Wisdom & Faith by Elizabeth George (on James)
  
  
• Romans. Part of the Life Change series by NavPress.
  
  
• Free from Bondage God's Way by Kay Arthur (Galatians/Ephesians). I've never done one of the Precepts Ministries Inductive Studies so this'll be a new one for me.

I think this'll keep me busy for awhile.

Before and After

So BooMama is having a before and after blog event. As in, accomplish a project before-and-after.

This kinda intimidates me. I mean, I've got projects to accomplish, but can I/will I really get them done by July 25? Yeah, I'm not so sure about that.

But, I've been dragging my feet on painting my office for something like 4 years now, apparently thinking that someday the perfect time will arrive when I don't have to move a bookcase and desk and file cabinets etc. etc. I think the fact that that day will never arrive has finally sunk in and I'm going to have to just grow up and deal with the hassles of moving the furniture and books.

So, yeah, one office. Painted. By July 25. This includes a wallpaper border being removed, and I want to be sure and mention that because that is not going to be fun if the guest room border was any indication. Curtains may or may not be hung by then, I'm making no promises about that.

There are even before pictures. Please note the dirty, scuffed walls and the border. And the lack of a window treatment other than boring blinds.

The TV holder is so attractive, isn't it? It came with the house.



The bookcase cleverly disguises the scuffed walls. Plus it holds some of my books.



This wall is in really bad shape, but I'd also like to point out the blue plaid loveseat. I adore it and spend a lot of time curled up in it reading.



In case you couldn't notice the lovely border before. And the nice dent in the wall below it.



Just in case you missed the dent, here it is with my unmanicured finger pointing at it. There are more gouges in the walls, but this one is the worst in large part because it's right next to the door so it's very noticeable any time you leave the room.



If I get really really crazy-motivated, I'll clean out the closet. It's officially a disaster. I've only been wanting to do that for six months or so.





So come back July 25 for the after pictures. And visit BooMama to find others who are participating.

Update! I'm posting weekly updates to keep myself moving along on the project.
Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
Update 4
Update 5

Thankful Tuesday

• I got my birthday book order today (I took my time picking them out). That always makes me happy to come home and find a package of books waiting at my front door.
  
  
• It looks like L's brother (the one brother who didn't come out here the first part of the year with the other two) is going to be able to come for a visit in August. This is the brother who he's closest to, so that would be really nice for L if he can.
  
  
• A situation at work has improved somewhat, and I'm grateful for any amount it improves.
  
  
• We were not impacted by the flooding that has so recently hit the Midwest. There were some awful pictures in the paper of damage not too far south of us, so we were very very lucky.