Joy in the Small Things....or Weird Things

If you know me, then you know I'm easily amused.  Like I've said before and so has many others...I laugh all the time, I love to laugh!...especially at myself.  I think I'm hilarious, moreso than most other people but who cares.

I was recently shown the app "Dubsmash", it is a lip syncing app.  It gives you short clips (sentences or phrases), song lyrics, etc and you lip sync with them.  Sounds easy enough but I am really not that good at them but they crack me up nonetheless.  Here's a brief example:

https://youtu.be/aO17Pnp_pnI

I told you I'm not that great at it...but here's me trying to do another one, James thought he'd be funny and record me in the process.

https://youtu.be/2aZsIG7qy-g

There you have it, another time waster (which I do not waste time doing a lot, just once in a great while) it's a good pick me up if you're having a rough day ;)

I Marvel

I wrote my 5th song yesterday...I've been walking around with the words I marvel in my head. Those are the only words I had prior to sitting down to write but I love the word marvel, Jesus used it, others used it. It means be filled with wonder, astonishment. The greatest thing that fills me with wonder and astonishment is the work of Christ on the cross for me, his sacrificial death, his resurrection...that's what I marvel at. Why this perfect, Holy God would come to this cruel world, be mocked, rejected, and die a horrific death for you and for me when He really didn't have to...He did it willingly because of His great love for us.  I can't even begin to comprehend that kind of love and when in the tiniest way I try to understand it, it overwhelms me and I weep at the thought of it.  So as I wrote the lyrics to this song, I wept, I sobbed, I was overwhelmed...I hope I never get over Jesus dying for me.

"I Marvel" by Christy Hoagland

Verse 1
The cross of calvary, You bore for me
You saved me from myself, from the enemy
You willingly took my place, You suffered, died, in disgrace
And through Your grace and mercy, You set me free

Chorus
And I marvel, at Your sacrifice
I'm filled with wonder, why You'd give Your life
For me, this sinner, why You bled and died
Your great love for me, I'm still amazed by
It astonishes me
How You saved me, how You changed me
A mystery
How You love me, how You keep me

Verse 2
To understand the cross of Christ, no one will know
God wrapped in flesh, crucified, the debt we owe
Holy Spirit, Father, Son, Almighty King, the Holy One
Died and rose again to give us hope

Chorus

Verse 3
Life was given in Your glorious victory
My guilt and shame washed away in misery
You conquered darkness and the grave
What an awesome price You paid
And in You, risen Lord, gave me eternity!

Chorus

I'm a Fantasy Football Loser

I love fantasy football and this season....I stink and not just a whiff of something gross when you live in a house full of boys, I mean a full decomposing, dog poop, pole cat kind of stench.

I had the first round pick in the draft, I chose Jamal Charles...he's injured and out for the season.  These things happen, it's part of the game but this year I've really taken the cake on losing.  I've picked up, dropped, changed defenses, kickers, quarterbacks...so many combinations of things all to no avail.  James keeps asking for me to give up and give him my "good" players....No Way!  I will play to the death, er, end.  And besides...I don't have any good players!  As I'm typing this, none of my players have scored more than single digits today.  My record is 2 - 8 soon to be 2 - 9.  I have no chance for the playoffs but I will keep playing, keep yelling at my players on the tv and kick them to the curb when they don't perform.  Because....I really do love fantasy football.

There Was a Snake in the Church?

It was late afternoon, everyone else had gone home.  I had just finished adding some new announcement slides in the sound booth for Sunday morning's service and there he was...at the bottom of the stairs...a snake.  He had his head reared and was staring right at me with those beady little eyes. 

I wasn't sure what kind of snake he was so I snapped a picture with my phone and retreated to the stairs on the other side of the booth and went to my office to do some research.  I googled snakes in Missouri and found that he was an innocent Midland Brown Snake, harmless to humans but not so much for slugs, etc.  I went to the kitchen and found a small bucket (a container slightly larger than a butter tub and put it over the top of him.  I texted the picture to the worship pastor since we would be having practice in a couple of hours.  He wasn't to enthused...his exact words were "please get rid of it".

This amused me a little, a couple of years ago there was a teeny tiny snake in the hall heading towards the furnace closet and our senior pastor stepped on him and called for me to come get this snake!  I wasn't too keen on picking up a snake but thought I was going to be tough and get rid of the big mean snake for the sake of my pastor.  The snake looked more like a big night crawler but I took him outside and let him go.

Now here was a similar situation except that I had discovered the snake and knew I could take care of him if I needed to.  I left and ran some errands and returned just before the worship pastor arrived.  The drummer had come early to practice, I told him about the coldhearted beast and he went to check him out.  Much to my surprise, he didn't want to have anything to do with him either.  I just haven't experienced this much since my husband will pick up almost anything and put almost any creature in his mouth...he is the opposite extreme which is an entirely different problem.

Needless to say, the worship pastor did not appreciate the fact that the snake was still around.  I got a couple pieces of paper and the drummer and I worked together to slide the container onto the paper so I could pick him up (I'm still not thrilled about touching them).  We flipped him over and he was now securely?...in the tub.  And I just couldn't help myself...I chased the worship pastor with the tub o' snake.  He ran and called me a jerk which made me laugh even harder.  I relented, took him outside to the grass and let him go.

I proceeded to tell another vocalist about the incident and the only thing he said (repeatedly) was "there was a snake in the church?"

Really...this snake was only 9 or 10 inches long at most.  He was tiny.  At the end of the night I did tell the worship pastor that I put it in his car but then said I was kidding...he wasn't so sure and I imagine that was a difficult drive home for him.

Sarcastic or Rude?

Tell me about myself...how do you perceive me?  I really want to know because I'm not quite sure myself.  I wrote that post last week about 10 things you may not know about me but is that how I see myself or how others see me?  I really have no idea.  It's kind of troubling or maybe I'm just trying to ignore the fact that I may not be as lovely as I ought to be.  I'm not looking for accolades here...I'm just very curious.  This curiosity just hit me a little more fuller in the face, I cooked a meal for 100 college students and took a few ladies with me to serve it to them (this was really outside of my comfort range but alas...) anyway, I was in a somewhat happy-go-lucky mood and the Baptist Student Union leader said, "I don't know how to take you".  Ok....a while back I was helping with a wedding reception and another woman helping said, "I don't know if you're being sarcastic or rude".  Whoa, that one hurt!  I wasn't offended by her, I was just really convicted.  Did I change my ways?  Probably, God does that to His children, molds them to be more like Him to which I'm very thankful.  Maybe I have a split personality, sometimes I'm quiet...aren't I?

Fantasy Football is NO Fantasy

I admit it...I'm addicted to Fantasy Football.  Well, not as addicted as my oldest son but I do really love it.

I really used to think it was quite silly or annoying but Christian started a family league "The Hoagland Cup" a couple years ago and I've been hooked ever since.  This is year 3 and I plan to win it all this year, I came so close last season but Christian's stinkin' kicker scored an unbelievable amount of points to overthrow me.

I participate in mock drafts before the season begins.  Christian schedules a Fantasy Football Draft night and I wait in anticipation.  The order is random and this time I got to choose my first player last, I knew who I wanted to pick first but was afraid one of my offspring was going to pick him.  I threatened them with something but Cameron still picked my first choice.

I talk to my players.  I know they can't hear me but I talk to them anyway, I threaten to bench them, I cheer for them, urge them to run faster!  I've always like football but this, this is something else.  I played in 3 leagues last year...too many, I would sometimes be playing against a player I had on another team and I just didn't like that.  I am playing in 2, our family league and a friend's league, my friend, one other person I know and a bunch of his friends from college.  Yes, I'm the only girl but that makes it all the sweeter when I kick their butts and I do kick their butts.

I get to name my teams anything I want, my Hoagland Cup team is named "Mama's Monkeymen", don't ask me why...I don't have any answer but for some reason I like to name them with two words that start with the same letter.  My other team is "Porky Passers"...I know, I know...cool name.

James laughs at me, I'm not sure if he thinks it's cute when I talk football or thinks I'm completely out of my mind.  Maybe a little bit of both...

I'm a loser...

This is really ridiculous.  It seems I only blog every several months now and since it's been so long I feel like I have to play catch up and tell you about everything that's happened in that long span of time. So.....am I going to do that this time???  Nope.  But I will start blogging again...won't I?

Losing a toe is ruff

For the past several months our miniature schnauzer, Rylee's toe nail has been growing in weird ways.  I really wish I had taken a picture of it, it was quite remarkable.  It was about ten times bigger than the rest of her little toe nails...comparable to my pinky in width and length.  Our dog groomer had been trimming it but said we should think about having our vet remove the nail.  We took Rylee to the vet and his exact words were "Wow, it looks like elephantitis of the toe"...I know, a picture! (insert it here).  He told us he would have to remove the toe as well and that we could pick her up the next day. 

She seemed to adapt pretty well, at first...a week after the surgery she started gnawing on her foot a lot, licking it or whatever but it still seems to be doing okay.  I asked the vet if she would need a "cone of shame" but he said no, he didn't like those.  The most impressive thing about this whole ordeal is that my awesome vet only charged us $45.  That really is amazing.  I read about all kinds of weird dog toe removal procedures online, hundreds of dollars spent, antibiotics, pain medicines, a positive attitude because your pet will sense your distress, LOL, these are dogs....

 

And this whole thing was worth it because now we'll get to see a bizarre footprint in the snow this winter.

A Need for Fluffy Pillows

I was looking at my blog stats and chuckled when I saw that the post that has gotten the most attention is "How to Keep Your Pillows Fluffy".  Evidently there's a dire need for fluffy pillows.  I agree that fluffy pillows are nice but it seems to be an epidemic or something.  What's even more humorous is that I just inserted that article to my post and hadn't really read it thoroughly.  It is quite humorous in that they are not trying to be funny but some of the things they say are craziness.  I know this is going to make you want to go back and read that post again now...go for it.  "10 Ways to Cure Stinky Rotten Smelly Feet" came in a distant 2nd, lol!  The moral of this story: "Don't put your stinky rotten smelly feet on your pillow if you want it to be fluffy."

Posts

Entry	Pageviews
How to Keep Your Pillows Fluffy Oct 13, 2010, 2 comments	106
10 Ways to Cure Stinky Rotten Smelly Feet Mar 25, 2010	8
Women's Conference 2011 Jul 30, 2011	7
Wash my toesies! Apr 1, 2011	7
Selfish Sally Mar 29, 2010, 1 comment	5
NO Compromise! Aug 18, 2010, 1 comment	4
Living Like Jesus ~ Comment Time! Feb 6, 2013	4
Stinky Storms May 8, 2012, 1 comment	4
Living Like Jesus ~ Fruit of True Repentance Feb 6, 2013	3
BBQ Pulled Pork Apr 7, 2013	3

 

Christmas Card 2012

Our 2012 Christmas Card!

Why 5 babies?  Who knows, why do we do any of the things we do?  This year's card was all James' idea, we had several mommas-to-be due all around the same time and he wanted all of them to be in our Christmas card.  At first he wanted to hold all of them himself but I really don't think the parents would have liked that too much.  We asked each baby's mommy or daddy if their child could be in our card, they all said yes even though some were really confused.  Most of them were even present for this picture, only one ran off without retrieving their baby.

Next year: Wait...

 

Coming to a Wal-Mart near you!

Last Saturday evening we had some time to kill before heading to a basketball tournament.  I had to get something, can't remember what, at Wal-Mart and one thing led to another.  This is what happened...

This....

turned into this...

Oh...we did more...

We did a 4 or 5 bins...why?  Who knows, we are weird and maybe have a little OCD.  But for some reason it was quite entertaining and addicting.  There were a couple bins that were 3 foot deep or so and we didn't really have time to do those anyway.  But watch out, we may show up at your local Wal-Mart!

Bonus: Cameron found a Betty White DVD...but alas, I did not buy it.

Air"soft"???

Cameron got a new Airsoft gun with his birthday money.  It is a fully automatic machine gun, it shoots hard!  Not soft!  I haven't actually gotten shot with it but my husband has and it made him bleed (just a little).  I finally agreed to play this game of theirs with them but made sure I was on Cameron's team so I wouldn't get shot with that thing.  My gun was lame and I couldn't hit anybody, Christian acquired Cameron's old gun (a sniper rifle) and shot me three times, yes it stung but I didn't have any lasting welps or serious injuries.  The things you will do to spend time with your kids.

"Goin' to the Movies"

I took this picture coming out of Wal-Mart the other day, I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help myself, they were so cute.  I am extremely curious about what movie they picked out.  You don't think they'll see this, do you?

Here's the dialogue in my head:

George: "What kinda flicker show ya wanna see tonight, Ethel?"
Ethel: "No shoot em' up thing, George.  All that violence desensitizes us and then we'll start actin' like those young people."
George: "Which young people, Ethel?"
Ethel: "Those ones back yonder takin' our picture, thinking we don't know what they're up to 'cause we're old."
George: "Now why on earth would someone be takin' a picture of our backsides standin' here lookin' for a movie? That don't make no sense, Ethel."
Ethel: "It's just sick I tell ya, sick..."

Or it could've went something like this:

George: "What in the name of tarnation is this thing?"
Ethel: "I don't know George, it looks kinda strange to me."
George: "Well, I just don't like it, it's probably somethin' conjured up by the government."
Ethel: "George, do you think it could be some sort of ATM?"
George: "For cryin' out loud Ethel, that is ridiculous nonsense.  I'm sure it's some kind of teleportation device."

I know, I'm weird.

Lovin' the dafont

Taught myself something new....check out my signature!  It's the little things.

Why I got married!!

I know what you're thinking...she got way too close in order to take a picture of that thing!  Yes, I did!  I stepped out of the shower this morning and after drying off spied this HUGE spider on the wall in the bathroom.  Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!  I got the willys, the heebie jeebies, you name it.  James went to kill it, because if he didn't I would never go in there again, and it jumped and crawled down the wall and was finally smashed beyond recognition, whew...thank goodness.  I still had the creeps and ran upstairs yelling "And that's why I got married!!!"  (so I don't have to kill spiders and the sort) ;)

5k...need I say more?

I ran a 5k today....that's 3.1 miles....and I lived to tell about it.  I've known about this for 2 or 3 months, that I would be participating and thought I should start training.  A couple months ago I began working out again, you know how that is, I work out for a few months, fall off the wagon and then start again.  This time, after just a couple weeks of working out I wasn't feeling well and fell right off into the abyss of unmotivatedness.  It was really pathetic.  I wasn't motivated to do anything for a while in the way of exercise until just two weeks ago. 

And then last Saturday I thought I would train by actually running.  I went down below the dam, there's an oval road that is just a hair over a mile so I would be able to see how this was going to go.  And I was off...just a few yards in and I started thinking to myself...why am I doing this?  I am a grown up, I don't have to do this, I don't like running!  Why do people run?  Why do people say phrases like "Running is fun"...ugh.  Running is dumb I say!  I ran the entire first mile and then walked for about half a mile and ran some more.  I only finished just over 2 miles and decided that's all I had in me or wanted to do.

A week later and the 5k was here, it was in the 30s...I detest the cold, it was windy...pooh.  There was an 82 year old man oiling up his legs, he was hard core.  We have spied him running before...dragging a tire behind him (makes me feel so good about myself).  He is my hero, ha!  Just kidding.  I received my number, pinned it on crooked and went to the starting line with my boys.  The old guy said "on your mark, get set, go" and we were off.  The first half mile wasn't too bad but then came a slight incline and the cold wind in my face, ugh.  I really didn't want to have to start walking this early in the race (that's funny..."race").  I survived the hill and turned the corner, I slowed to a brisk walk for about 30 seconds to a minute (seriously) and then ran past the first mile marker.  I walked and ran off and on for the rest of the race, there was a long straightaway at the end and I really didn't want to run the whole way but I also didn't want to look like I wasn't running so I moved my arms like I was running and just walked for half the way.  I know, I know...ridiculous but you're thinking "what a great idea!"  I started to run again and Cameron came out to meet me and cheer me on, he ran the rest of the way with me but when I saw people I pushed past him and did a 'Chariots of Fire' finish for fun, I just couldn't help myself.  I did it!  I completed a 5k...my time was 37:37 which I was thrilled with, I was hoping for 45 minutes.  I got a 3rd place medal for my age group, for some strange reason there were more women in my age group than any other, what is wrong with these people?  I actually admire people that can run, I just don't feel like I'm one of them.  I felt like a fish out of water, I was surrounded with people in high tech running suits with fancy watches...blah, blah, blah.  I think I was the only first timer there except for my boys and they did great by the way.  They both got a 1st place medal for their age division and Christian got 3rd male overall...geez, they didn't get that from me.

Flashback!  When I was in high school I had P.E. my freshman year and running the mile was manditory.  I did it of course but I was always red faced and looked like I was about to die, my time back then was around 8 minutes which isn't great but isn't totally terrible either (for me).

Anywho, I was glad this was over.  I was ready to go home, get comfy, drink some hot cocoa and watch an old movie or something.  And we did exactly that.  I also found a flyer in my bag from the race for a 5k coming up in June.....we'll see...

It's My Blogoversary!

I have been "blogging" for a year now, wow!  I made some changes...there...that's all I got...

Crazy Eye

Mama always said if you keep making that face it will stay that way.

Christian taught me a new trick tonight...here's what teenagers learn at public schools.

Freaky, huh?  I'm looking at my left eyeball. 

We are such a talented family, I am so proud.  I don't recommend doing this for any length of time, I kinda got a headache.  It reminded me of a Bob Nelson act, he's a christian comedian and so funny.

Wilby Stuckerson aka Bob Nelson.

I couldn't find the exact clip on youtube that I wanted so I just put a pic of him as Wilby.

Freaky Follower

I have a problem with the following and followers thing on blogs, my own and others.  When I started this blog it gave me a google account, evidently this is different than the one I sign in with using my email address.  I also have another google account because of my church email address and I don't know how many others.  If you notice on my followers, (I only have 10), 3 of those 10 are me and there's another one out there because I chose to follow my pastor's blog and it doesn't look like any of those thumbnails.  On the brightside, I didn't follow my own blog all by myself...my husband helped.  He went to "follow" my blog and the computer was signed in as me.  There are also 2 James' following as well...yes, they are both my husband, go figure.  So really, I only have 6 followers...just pitiful.  And pathetically enough I wanted my pastor's blog to be linked to mine and now he has 2 followers that are the same person...me.  What a dork I am!  I have no idea how to unfollow a blog and still follow with the correct "christy", oh well...

*UPDATE: I got rid of one...lol

The Desk Top Challenge

Here is the before...

James and I both use this desk (mostly James), he uses it for work and for study.  He taught a Sunday school class, a Sunday evening bible study, and preached in one week so he had a lot of things going on here.  There are three bibles, other reference books, etc., a half-full or half-empty (whichever you prefer) cup of coffee, a half can of soda, a used tissue...GROSS!...other junk and our creepy doll.  (she is next to the pen container) Here's a closer look...

I got her for a Secret Santa gift at school one year, still haven't figured that out but James and I have a lot of fun hiding it various places for one another to find.  I put it in his sock drawer - he sticks it in my shoe, I put it in his pillow case (a good one because he didn't find it til the middle of the night, lol) and he put it in my lunch box.  You never know where she is going to show up and give you the heebie jeebies.

This desk actually gets cleaned off quite often but piles up quickly, it is truly a workstation.  Here's the after...

Enjoy.  It won't last long...