Who needs sleep?

Good Saturday morning!  Thank you for being here with me.  It is early.  A variety of things woke me up...one right after the other....  But one of them you might think is funny...or maybe even two of them.  The dogs must have been being extra good before my husband went to bed, because he decided to give them each a treat. We get these big bags of weird pieces of cow that have been dried and the dogs love them!  They are not a quick treat though. And I have found that they don't eat them when we are not around.  I don't think my husband knows that though.  Here is why I think that. 

It is very early in the morning and I wake up to the dogs barking very loudly. There has been a bit of a turf war at my house these days between the Cats and the Dogs.  So I hear the Dogs barking and think, "Oh no, not another turf war!"  I jump out of bed and find my big dog Sampson slinking out of the living room. I look over into the kitchen and I find my littler dog Belle is sitting in the middle of the kitchen with two very large treats (one of them being part of a cow hoof). She is not eating them.  She is not licking them.  She is not smelling them.  She is protecting them.  She has taken Sampson's portion and decided she would protect her booty.  I didn't think too much about it until my big dog gets all the way into the kitchen from the living room and growling and barking ensues.  By this time, I am awake enough to figure out why I have been woken up.  I put the treats away, let them know that they can have them back later when everyone is up and they can chew them to their hearts' content and crawl back under the covers.

Just as I am falling asleep...barking.  Ok, who needs sleep anyway?  I get out of bed and go to the door.  Both my dogs are sitting in the hallway as sweet as can be...staring at me.  Both of their tails are wagging and they are just staring at me.  When I start asking them what is up, my Belle starts talking to me in something between a growl and a bark.  She talked to me for quite a while.  I am not sure what she said, but she was very determined to let me know her mind.  This is VERY unusual.  Belle is not that interactive.  She is more of a 'hey, you are here, I am going to curl up right here next to your chair' kind of dog.  I am guessing that she was giving me a piece of mind about putting a kibosh on her fun with the treats.  Ok, this time I let them out to have a runabout.  Can I sleep now? 

I crawl back in bed. What could happen next?  My stealthy black cat sneaks up on me...ok, what she really did was walk the length of my body.  I asked her politely to get off, so she decides to jump on my sleeping husband.  Now this cat is usually a foot sleeper.  She is very polite about it.  She is very quiet.  It it a full moon?  This happens again and again.  She walks up and then I push her down, she walks up and then I push her down.  And then finally I don't push her down and she decides to lay down as close to my face as she can, but right on top of me.  Needless to say, I am blessed to be loved by animals, but today I really would have loved a little extra sleep.  :-) 

On the flip side though, I am awake.  It is Saturday.  And life is good!  I hope you have a beautiful weekend.  May God bless and keep you.  And if you have any little furry ones in your life, give them a little extra love for me.  And if possible, could you whisper quietly to them to spread the word that even Mamas like to sleep in once in a while? 

Hope

I got teary-eyed during our Financial Peace University class yesterday.  Did I mention that my husband and I are teaching this class at our church?  We have about 70 students and then we break out into small groups and have discussions. 

Yesterday we were talking about debt and the hopelessness that people can feel.  Dave Ramsey talked about his sister's goat "Practice" and how his sister was a goat-roper. She used Practice to practice with and Dave talked about how they practiced so often that they wore a bare spot in the field.  Eventually the goat would stop just before the bare spot and then later he would actually lay down.  He lost hope when he saw that bare spot.  Dave Ramsey says that he is the one who got to the other side of the bare spot and he is here to let people know that there is hope that they can too. 

This video presentation has so much meat to it and it is interspersed with funny stuff.  But I always get teary-eyed when he talks about the goat.  For me, this is why I volunteer my time to teach this class.  It is about sowing seeds of HOPE.  Hope for the future and hope for living life a better, more balanced way.  We, and especially I, felt so helpless and hopeless with regards to money when we started working the Dave Ramsey program.  I had read so many books about money...but I had never found one that actually gave me step-by-step instructions.  This program is so black and white.  That is what I love about it.  Just put one foot in front of the other...and soon you'll be walking out the door. 

Ok, I have to admit that it does come with hardships.  It is not all fun and games and sometimes, when Murphy comes calling...it is downright HARD.  But whenever we have to move aside and get off track to deal with some emergency or another, then we have a plan to go back to.  We have HOPE waiting for us. 

Writing

It snowed.  I was so thankful that Carl had his friend over. As soon as the snow started to stick, they dug out their winter clothes and got out in it.  It was pitch black dark and they were out in it.  Love that.  Then they slept and got up early and went out again first thing in the morning.  The neighbor kids were watching out the window for the longest time and then they finally got permission to come out to play as well.  They were all out there until I had to call them in for breakfast.  Of course I had to go out too.  I love the snow.  I love it especially when I don't have to drive in it. 

I was up early today.  I have had a terrible chest cold...whatever for several weeks.  Today I was sitting up gasping for air even before I was awake.  It was scarey.  I feel like I now know what it feels like for someone with asthma.  I am going to see the acupuncturist today and then I will get in touch with my doc too. I have to admit that I was very thankful for my inhaler today.  I haven't had to use it as regularly lately and I guess that is a good sign. 

Yesterday was a tough day.  It was my first day without my best friend from work being there.  I missed her smiling face.  She has a way of knitting the individuals in that office together.  Not to mention our morning chats.  We always solved the problems of the world during those morning chats. 

I am just letting my thoughts stream.  I have missed writing on here.  I kept thinking that I need a direction.  But for now I just want to write about whatever comes into my head.  If you don't mind, I will just keep doing that.  Have a great day!

I NEED to write!!

Hello!  I NEED to write!  I NEED to write!  I am not sure why, but I am drawn to writing.  I have trouble with my hands and arms from overuse at work, so using a pen and paper is tough.  Writing with a keyboard seems so much easier.  But then...what to write. This blog started because I was yearning for community.  Yearning for something that I believed wasn't part of our culture anymore.  It is strange, but after all this time, I just don't believe that anymore.

Community is changing.  Yes, community is changing.  But I am finding that I have so much community.  I am involved in and with so many people, but in different ways than in the traditional sense of community.  Facebook is one of my communities.  Work is another.  My neighborhood is another (both online and in person).  My place of worship is another.  My financial awareness class is yet another.  My animals are another.  I am learning that I can find community wherever I look these days. Why couldn't I see it before?  WHY couldn't I see it before?

Speaking of Facebook.  It is funny how many times I have considered getting off the whole thing.  But I find that it is a quick way to keep in touch with so many people throughout the world.  I care about these people.  I want to be a part of their lives even when I cannot BE there.  Is that wrong?  Is that weird?

I went to a double retirement party this week and then I had to say good-bye to a very good friend of mine today.  She found a new (and wonderful) position, and this meant that she would be leaving my workplace.  I will miss her!