lately...

in my kitchen:

homemade pizza, chili, potato soup

cookies and squares and christmas treats oh my!

on my night table:

whistleblower ~ tess gerriston, the hot flash club ~ nancy thayer,

kiss ~ ted dekker, identical ~ scott turow

through my speakers:

bx 93, christmas cd’s

search engine history:

blogger, face book, unveiled wife

readings in my bible:
luke

{reading one chapter each day as i prepare my heart for christmas}

enjoyment:
time spent with family, multiple christmas parties, reading,

walking in a winter wonderland, learning yoga

tv shows:

survivor, the big bang theory,

any Christmas classic ~ charlie brown christmas, frosty the snowman,

how the grinch stole christmas, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,

santa claus is comin’ to town, the little drummer boy

and my favourite mickey’s christmas carol
 

movies:

 elf, the santa clause, home alone, scrooged, polar express

{‘tis the season, after all}

 

blessings

Sleepyhead

Some days, making a difference begins with something as simple as getting out of bed. This morning, I didn’t want to get up. My mind was tired and my body exhausted. Living with an auto-immune disorder can do that to a person.

Most mornings, I hear it; that soft but persistent whisper, telling me to give up before I even begin. It says I’m not good enough. It tells me that another hour in bed won’t hurt a bit.  Since I am not employed nor volunteer anywhere it would have been easy to just to stay in bed. 

This voice is familiar; it speaks logically and sadly in a voice that I recognize. As a result, I often believe it, but deep, deep down, I know it’s a liar.

I’ve heard that voice before.

Just this morning, I heard it again. But this time, I refused to believe it. In spite of how I felt, I got up, even though I really didn’t feel like it.

And you know what? I survived.  Not only that, I made something that mattered ~ at least in some small way. 

You can do this, too!

Despite how tired you feel, or whether you want to… all it takes is the desire to begin, the strength to press in, and the perseverance to continue.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4 {New International Version {NIV}}  

Sometimes, making a difference is just that simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it’s doable. So what is it must you do to get started?  Simply kick off the sheets, put your feet on the floor, and get out of bed. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how you feel. You just need to do it. Even if it’s hard. But to begin, you must get out of bed.

What gets you up in the morning?

Blessings

Twelve Days of Christmas

Let the countdown begin!

Enjoy!

 

Blessings

because... it's christmas

with christmas just around the corner, we knew we needed to get the baking started... and oh boy! did we bake!

 

white chocolate & craisin oatmeal cookies

 and marshmallow fudge

and peanut butter cup squares, and rice krispie squares, and brownies, and church window squares and hello dollie squares and whew! what a day! still need to make sugar cookies, but that's for another day...

 

krystle is definitely a baking queen..... and me? i am glad to just be along for the ride!  thanks ~ for a truly vonderful gut day!

 

blessings

 

 

Nerd Alert!

Hi, my name is Anita, and I am a nerd. 

I'm one of those people who love taking personality tests.

From tests like this one {I’m an INTJ}
to ones like this {my temperament is melancholic}
or this DISC assessment  {D - 67%, I - 21%, S - 63%, C - 88% }
Decisive ~  your preference for problem solving and getting results
Interactive ~ your preference for interacting with others and showing emotion
Stability ~ your preference for pacing, persistence and steadiness
Cautious ~ your preference for procedures, standards and protocols
to even the goofy ones you find online {Spoon ~ ♥}, in magazines, or this one that can give you a description about who you are based solely on your birth date…I love them all.

Told'ya I was a nerd!

I find the results to be quite fascinating and enjoy reading them none-the-less. I was surprised at how many of the traits did describe my personality. It was a fun exercise {make sure you give some of them a try}, and oddly enough it did have some information about me that was pretty accurate!

But when I read the results, my mind started to wonder… is this really me? Is this all there is to “Anita,” all neat and tidy and packaged into a few lines?

To be honest with you, some of it was hard to read because there were hard truths that had been spoken to me through the years by friends, employers, and previous co-workers that I really didn’t want to believe were true. Parts of my personality that seem to haunt me, no matter how hard I try to change it or hide it. One thing I learned in taking this test? You can only hide your God-given personality so long before you turn into a burned-out, stressed-out mess.

But when I took a step back and looked at the positive side of some of these, it helped me realize something about this “personality” of mine.

God made me this way.

And some of the more negative sides of my personality? I have to admit, these are the very areas I’ve been praying about for years. Do these tests fully describe who God created me to be? Not at all ~ but it’s a helpful tool in understanding a little bit more about myself. 

Any fellow nerds out there?

Blessings 

nonsense

4:23 AM
that's what the time on the computer says right now. i've been awake since 3:00 AM, lying in bed, trying to go back to sleep, but to no avail.  so, here i sit with a cup of tea, blogging, while the rest of the world sleeps.  well, maybe not the entire world. i suppose there might be a few other poor, unfortunate souls lying awake as well.

4:27 AM
yup. it took me that long to write that tiny little paragraph. my typing skills are not that great. perhaps i shouldn't have cheated during my high-school typing class.

Sigh.

now i shall have to reap the consequences of that despicable behaviour. add to that, the fact that i am typing in the dark and that i can't spell hard words... you know, words like “despicable“. i have spell check, but you have to have the word at least spelled somewhat correctly for it to be able to figure out what the word is supposed to be to be able to check it, and since my first attempt at spelling it was so bad that it couldn't guess what i was trying to type, i had to keep trying different letters until it was finally able to figure out what word i was trying to spell so that it could make the correction.

4:37 AM
it took me ten minutes to write this last paragraph. it takes me a while to figure out what i want to say.

4:40 AM
three whole minutes… but i did blow my nose and pick up my cup of tea during that time as well.  plus, i sat staring at what i had written for a while. you know......to make sure everything was spelled correctly {just in case my computer makes a mistake} and also to see if everything made sense.

4:46 AM
i just read over everything i have written so far. now i am sitting here wondering what else to say.  nothing seems to be coming to mind. quite possibly because it's now

4:48 AM
and i should be asleep. but, alas, i cannot. and so here i sit, blogging nonsense.

4:57 AM
i've just re-read this entire post three times.

5:06 AM

5:07 AM
sometimes it's painful being me.

blessings

Mission Complete

Remember this?

And then at 28 weeks into the year I accomplished the challange and decided to try and read another 50... before the year was over.  With one month spare... I did it. 100 books.

#1 Triplets - Molly Gregorie
#2 Acts of Malice - Perri O shaunessy
#3 Secrets - Danielle Steel
#4 Extreme Measures - Michael Palmer
#5 Angles Flight - Michael Connolly
#6 Low Pressure - Sandra Brown
#7 Up Close and Dangerous- Linda Howard
#8 The Trophy Wives - Kristin Billerbeck
#9 The Drop - Michael Connolly
#10 Shiver - Karen Robards
#11 Eyes Wide Open - Andrew Gross
#12 Full Disclosure - Dee Henderson
#13 These Things Hidden - Heather Gudenkauf
#14 Broken Harbour - Tana French
#15 Double Blind - Brandilyn Collins
#16 The Truth about Dandelions - Hayley Linfield
#17 The Lawyer’s Lawyer - James Sheehan
#18 Last to Die - Tess Gerritson
#19 Guilt - Jonathan Kellerman
#20 Vanished - Irene Hannon
#21 The Last Victim - Karen Robards
#22 Cut to the Bone - Jean Boswell
#23 Trust your eyes - Linwood Barclay
#24 Don’t cry now - Joy Fielding
#25 Murder on the mind - L.L. Bartlett
#26 Sweet revenge - Lisa Jackson
#27 Touch & go - Lisa Gardner
#28 No way back - Andrew Gross
#29 All she ever wanted - Rosalind Noonan
#30 Best kept secret - Amy Hatvany
#31 Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella
#32 The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow - Rita Leganski
#33 The Storyteller - Jodi Picoult
#34 Six Years - Harlan Coben
#35 Family Pictures - Jane Green
#36 Daddy’s gone a hunting - Mary Higgins Clark
#37 Another Piece of my Heart - Jane Green
#38 Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberly McCreighton
#39 Twelfth of Never - James Patterson
#40 A Wanted Man - Lee Child
#41 The Next Best Thing - Jennifer Weiner
#42 Not by Sight - Kathy Herman
#43 Forgotten - Catherine McKenzie
#44 Revenge wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
#45 Honeymoon - James Patterson
#46 The Lakehouse - James Patterson
#47 Unspoken - Lisa Jackson
#48 The Professional - Robert Parker
#49 Ready to Die - Lisa Jackson
#50 Whispers & Lies - Joy Fielding
#51 Fractured - Karin Slaughter
#52 After You - Julie Buxbaum
#53 While my sister sleeps - Barbara Delinsky
#54 The Racketeer - John Grisham
#55 Stay Close - Harlan Coben
#56 Unseen - Karin Slaughter
#57 The Deepend - Joy Fielding
#58 The Innocent - Harlan Coben
#59 Time of my Life - Allison Winn Scotch
#60 Shattered - Karen Robards
#61 Second Honeymoon - James Patterson
#62 Always Watching - Chevy Stevens
#63 The Innocence Game - Michael Harvey
#64 Takeover - Lisa Black
#65 Guilt by Degrees - Marcia Clark
#66 Between Sisters - Kristin Hannah
#67 Stranded - Alex Kava
#68 Broken - Karin Slaughter
#69 No time for Good-bye - Linwood Barclay
#70 The Dance - Dan Walsh
#71 Fear the Worst - Linwood Barclay
#72 The Last Kiss Good-bye - Karen Robards
#73 Mistress - James Patterson
#74 Pray for Silence - Linda Castillo
#75 Gone Missing - Linda Castillo
#76 A tap on the Window - Linwood Barclay
#77 Confessions of a Murder Suspect - Maxine Paetro
#78 The Wrong Man - David Ellis
#79 The Last Alibi - David Ellis
#80 Northern Lights - Nora Roberts
#81 The Longest Ride - Nicholas Sparks
#82 Bait - J. Kent Messum
#83 Life Sentence - David Ellis
#84 The Silent Girl - Tess Gerritsen
#85 Ice Cold - Tess Gerritsen
#86 The One Good Thing - Kevin Alan Milne
#87 Black Friday - Alex Kava
#88 Damaged - Alex Kava
#89 Postcards from the Dead - Laura Childs
#90 The Rose Garden - Susanna Kearsley
#91 After her ~ Joyce Maynard
#92 Fireproof - Alex Kava
#93 Kill Switch - Neal Baer
#94 Gone - James Patterson
#95 Her last Breath - Linda Castillo
#96 Never saw it coming - Linwood Barclay
#97 The Neighbour - Lisa Gardner
#98 See Jane Die - Erica Spindler
#99 Buried Evidence - Nancy Rothenberg
#100 Orchid Blues - Stuart Woods

Am I done? Hardly, I just started book 101. I love to read to much!

Blessings