2009 Pragmatic Recap

Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife is hosting a 2009 Blog Recap Carnival and, having fallen off the blog wagon over the last month, I figured it would be a fairly painless way to ease back into my blog. I even remembered my WordPress password!

For each month of 2009, I’ve posted the title (and link) and quoted the first few lines of the FIRST post of that month:

January 2009
it’s not like I’m having a baby.

“So why am I NESTING? I’ve had this massive surge of momentum and have been clearing out and re-organizing for weeks. I’ve even been . . . decorating.”

(This post contained LOTS of photos. And now I’m doing it AGAIN. I’ve already made one trip to the Salvation Army, with AT LEAST one more in the next few days. Maybe two, it depends on how much stuff I can pack in the bed of the truck. I’ve already been entering charitable donations in It’s Deductible, the FREE online valuing tool! Hopefully, FirstHusband will also take a trip to the dump in the next next few days.)

February 2009
fast food food, fast.

“Sometimes, I need to feed FavoriteSon fast. Considering what the boy can pack away and how much it can cost, I need to stock some quick, easy, cheap meals.”

(Still – ALWAYS – looking for fast, easy, cheap meals. This post highlights meatball and turkey sandwiches and our family favorite – Cream Cheese Chicken.)

March 2009
walking outside the lines.

“Twice now, I’ve walked the track during FavoriteSon’s track practice. Since they actually USE the track during track practice, I’ve been walking outside the outside lane (lane #8).”

(I did this the entire track season last year! Track season is coming up again, so I’m glad I’ve been reminded of this post. Last year, I found a Track Calculator showing the distance around for each lane of the track. Since I walk OUTSIDE the 8th lane, the distance around is more than if I were to walk in lane 1.)

April 2009
voila!

“Busy, Busy, Busy. The only thing I like better than eating Cream Cheese Chicken is MAKING it. Soooooo easy! Dump everything in a crockpot and come back later. That’s what I’m doing today.”

(By FAR, Cream Cheese Chicken is my favorite FAST recipe. Starting with FROZEN chicken! But this post also highlighted a new product called “Voila” which I use as a base and add more veggies and shrimp or chicken.)

May 2009
Good Thing the Hospital is Nice

“We thought Julie would be home after one night. The doctor actually wanted two and that was before she had a fever of 102 last night maybe tomorrow…”

(This post was written by FirstHusband – a little update after my surgery last year.)

June 2009
7 Quick Takes: 06.01.09

“Kristen emailed me to make sure I was okay and I realized I hadn’t blogged in over a week!

Over a week! What have I been doing?”

(This was a catch-up post with a little of everything from my surgery recovery to what I was struggling/praying about to thoughts about what I was reading at the time to summer kid activities . . .)

July 2009
Pragmatic Summer Recipes

“Kristin over at We are THAT Family is is hosting a themed edition of Works for Me Wednesday this week! Here are some of my favorite summer recipes! Click on the links for the original post and the ingredients/recipe.”

(And AGAIN with the food posts! Multiple recipes for summer!)

August 2009
hi ho, hi ho.

“I’m still here – just working a LOT. And climbing a learning curve for the work projects. Trying to steal hours in the fragmented chaos to actually focus on the learning and the work. The kind of work that requires complete and total quiet, lots of gum and Diet Coke.”

(I’m tired just reading the August 2009 post. I had a LOT going on. And, although it took me a few months, my business website is new and improved – still missing some pages, but for the most part, it’s a MILLION times better than what it was. The client project I was working on did get finished and worked well enough that the client wants more in 2010, so that’s more answered prayer (I was praying for compensated work.) Still purging stuff from my house. Where does it all come from? And I HATE shopping! So WHERE does it come from?

September 2009
Then Sings My Soul Saturday: Desert Song

“This week’s new praise song for our 9:30 a.m. praise and worship service! I can’t stop thanking God for letting me sing it!!! So beautiful.”

(I still really love this song and I’m so blessed to be the one who gets to sing the lead. I LOVE the bridge!)

October 2009
blessings require change. part 2.

“In my post, “blessings require change.” on September 30th, I shared how God gave me an opportunity to give my minivan to a family who needed it.”

(A testimony to God’s AMAZING power. I’m still so thankful that I got to be a part of this miracle. More answered prayer came when I got share the story with my entire church as I delivered the message at all four services on Women’s Sunday in October. I had been praying for God to bless me with more opportunities to serve Him with my voice – singing and speaking. He answered my prayer when I was asked to deliver the message AND lead music that Sunday. God is so good.)

November 2009
expensive tedium exposed.

“I’ve been reading a little C. S. Lewis lately. Today I read the November 1st and 2nd entries from “A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works.” He’s a tough read. I may have mentioned before that I respond to his writing in a number of different ways.

Sometimes, I think he’s a pompous windbag who delights in using words the common man (that’d be me) has to look up in a very old dictionary because . . . “

(Just some C.S. Lewis prompted thoughts. Reminding me what happens when I spend time alone – abiding.)

December 2009
what is it you do exactly?

“When someone asks me what I do, I know they’re talking about work. Outside my home. Other than being a mom. I usually answer, “I’m a trainer and consultant.”

Often, that’s the end of it. Sometimes, if they’re interested, they’ll wrinkle their eyebrows and ask something like:

What is it you do exactly?”

(Don’t be alarmed if you still don’t understand what I do, even after reading this post. Most likely you fell asleep in the middle of reading it.)

So that’s a little of my 2009. I’ve still got some work to finish up on the client upgrade which consumed much of my November and December, but I hope I can keep up with the blogging. It’s a great source of stress relief. I’ve got a few other projects coming up, both in computer consulting and faith based speaking, but I’ll talk about them later – well probably not the computing part – that can get significantly boring for most normal people.

Me? I know I’m not normal. One of my favorite Christmas gifts is the terabyte external hard drive FirstHusband got me. oooo. ahhhh. Time to start transferring the family movies from tape to digital storage. But I’m thinking I might want two terabyte drives. As a backup. hmmm.

Christmas from Straight No Chaser

These guys are GOOD!

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Need a few more chuckles today? Check out Friday Funnies hosted by Homesteaders Heart!

If you’ve got time to hang out for a few minutes, check out what else makes me laugh: Pragmatic Compendium’s “laugh!” category.

what is it you do exactly?

When someone asks me what I do, I know they’re talking about work. Outside my home. Other than being a mom. I usually answer, “I’m a trainer and consultant.”

Often, that’s the end of it. Sometimes, if they’re interested, they’ll wrinkle their eyebrows and ask something like:

What is it you do exactly?

Even my mom asks me this. My son gets it now. My daughter only gets the training part.

My work is . . . eclectic. Some days I write this:

(don’t actually read it, just glaze over it, like I sometimes do)

CODES(
SWITCH(FIELD(PLAINTIFFSHORTNAME))
CASEOF(BIGBANK1)
INSERT(The Big Bank of Central Southeast, a Florida corporation)
CASEOF(BIGBANK2)
INSERT(Small Town Bank, a Florida corporation)
CASEOF(CREDITUNION)
INSERT(The Friendly Local Credit Union, a State Chartered Credit Union)
DEFAULT
KEYBOARD(Please Enter the Name of the Bank and Click “Continue”)
ENDSWITCH
)

and this:

CODES(
IFNOTBLANK(DateMortMod)
NESTFORM(C:\folder\file.ext.)
ENDIF
)

(That’s WordPerfect merge code and it helps automate the creation of legal documents.)

Sometimes I play with Microsoft Word codes like these:

CREATEDATE \@ “MMMM d, yyyy”
{ASK DOA “Enter Date of Accident” \o \*MERGEFORMAT }

(Those are field codes, also to help automate the creation of documents.)

Woo. Hoo.

That’s some of the computer consulting part.

The FUN computer consulting part is when I get to do needs analysis and provide proactive methods to get things DONE quickly and as efficiently as possible (as opposed to just constantly reacting when things don’t work correctly). Like analyzing how information is received and how it is processed (which is often unique to the client) and then figuring out the best way to accomplish the client’s goals while still taking into account their own personal preferences and work processes. My favorite clients are the ones who understand that preventing a problem saves time and money – money which stays in their pocket. I don’t enjoy clients who just react frantically to problems as their every day M.O. Which is why I don’t have any of those clients anymore. WAY too stressful and I risked my reputation every time I walked into a crisis situation created by lack of planning and preparation. Done ranting now.

So, that’s SOME of what I do. The computer part. There’s more, but I’m too tired to even type right now.

Right now, I’m in the middle of a firm wide client computer upgrade that is both exhausting and rewarding. But I can’t bring myself to complain. Customizing the setup/defaults on every new computer and training for every employee. I’m having a blast! And the work is a direct answer to prayer. So I’m going to work every day, praying for an opportunity to serve God in any way I can.

The first step to my witness is to be a credible, reliable resource. Another is to pay attention and look for opportunities. Even the tiny ones. I’m praying that I’ll be aware. And that I’ll have the courage and motivation to be obedient when God provides an opportunity to serve him.

Christian author, Philip Yancey says we can serve God in unexpected places. Tomorrow, I’m looking for one again.

thankful. 11.27-30.09

11.27.09 I’m thankful for soup. I know that sounds strange, but FirstHusband can make some seriously good soup. This past week, he ended up smoking three turkeys (two for a charity dinner), a lamb shank and a ham. That’s THREE huge crockpots of turkey soup and one of ham/lamb soup. Very, very GOOD soup.

11.28.09 I’m thankful for my husband, who prepared our Thanksgiving meal all by himself today while I was on client site because I couldn’t connect from home. (See thankful 11.30.09) We served Thanksgiving dinner at our church this year, so we had our family meal on Saturday. He prepared the ENTIRE meal himself. I cleaned up – and PACKED the fridge with leftovers – and soup – until all our food storage containers were full. We are so very, truly blessed.

11.29.09 I’m so thankful for my son’s sense of humor. His quick, dry wit always keeps us on our toes. And his grin is part of his character. Absolute GREAT person.

BestDad/FirstHusband: FavoriteSon, there is a table right in front of you, ya know.

FavoriteSon (with a plate of food perched precariously on his knee and my favorite grin on his face): God didn’t make tables. He made knees.

Me: Jesus was a carpenter. He made tables. Use that one please.

11.30.09 I’m SOOOOO Very thankful for the ability to connect to client computers remotely and work from home. Last night, as I prepared to teach a custom Windows 7 class this morning, I was able to work until the wee hours of the morning – from the safety and comfort of my own home. The internet is WONDERFUL.

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I’m participating in a month of Thanksgiving hosted by Rebecca Writes. If you want to join in, post something you are thankful for and then link up over at Rebecca’s blog!

Then Sings My Soul Saturday: You’ll Come

This week’s new praise song for our 9:30 a.m. praise and worship service!

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For more Saturday music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.

thankful. 11.26.09

I’m thankful that so many people observe the conscious, intentional focus on giving thanks to God for our blessings.

I read, therefore I quote.

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and also those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers . . .

. . . and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

(This was originally posted on Thanksgiving 2008.)

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“. . . therefore I quote” If you have a quote to share from something you’ve read recently, feel free to comment and/or include a link to your own “quote” post.

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thankful. 11.25.09

I’m so thankful . . .

Working full+ days recently has reminded me that I am SO thankful that I don’t (normally) have to work full-time. My daughter is really missing me and while I feel guilty about that, I’m also thankful for the experience because she too is realizing what a blessing it is that I pick her up every day after school and that I get to spend so much time with her every day. She and her brother are off from school this week and my husband is on vacation leave, so they’ve spent the week together. Yesterday, on the phone, after I’d been gone from the house all day, she said:

“Now I know how my friends feel when they have to go to after care every day. They don’t get to see their mom and dad as much as me.”

Heart wrenching. Part of me loves and wants to do the work. Part of me wants to be home with my family. My prayers today are for all the families who struggle with those same feelings – all the time.

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I’m participating in a month of Thanksgiving hosted by Rebecca Writes. If you want to join in, post something you are thankful for and then link up over at Rebecca’s blog!

mom’s pumpkin soup

In honor of Thanksgiving and my mother-in-law, I’m highlighting a past post for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday:

Mom’s Pumpkin Soup

Although we used “real” pumpkin for our jack-o-bread recipe, we use canned pumpkin for this. It’s much smoother – not so . . . grainy, if you know what I mean.

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And click on over to check out the recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed With Grace

thankful. 11.23.09

I’m so thankful . . .

I’m thankful that FirstHusband is off this week and is picking up my slack BIG time as I work on a client project. We had a slumber party for 9 year old girls last night that lasted until after midnight. I got up and went to client site while he stayed home, made pancakes for breakfast and held down the fort till after lunch when the parents started picking up their girls. Our own little girl had an exhausting, wonderful time and she thinks her daddy is the bomb!

I’m thankful that FirstHusband cleaned out the fridge to get ready for the plethora of food we will need to stuff inside over the next few days. I’m thankful that he’s the KING of the smoker during the holidays and that he loves to cook big elaborate meals. I’m thankful that he is such a GREAT cook!

THANK YOU, LORD!!!

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I’m participating in a month of Thanksgiving hosted by Rebecca Writes. If you want to join in, post something you are thankful for and then link up over at Rebecca’s blog!

turkeyisms.

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Need a few more chuckles today? Check out Friday Funnies hosted by Homesteaders Heart!

If you’ve got time to hang out for a few minutes, check out what else makes me laugh: Pragmatic Compendium’s “laugh!” category.

7 quick takes. 11.20.09

1. American Girl doll, Kirsten backordered until May 25? Seriously?

2. I have stuffed so much information into my brain in the last two weeks I’m mentally exhausted. I read computer manuals much like novels when I’m in the learning curve mode and somehow I remember freakish amounts of computer capabilities but forget to do simple things, like eat and sleep.

3. Work is good. Busy, but really good. My favorite client is upgrading – all new computers for everyone – more than 60 when it’s all said and done. LOTS of work. Custom configuration for each computer after they are cloned and I’m training my first batch of client employees on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I REALLY want to be finished by Christmas.

4. More than wanting to be finished by Christmas, I REALLY want to remember everything I’m learning so I can teach it to other people. Content outlines are my lifeline.

5. PinkGirl’s 9th Birthday!!!!

6. Serving Thanksgiving dinner at our church this year instead of having our traditional meal at home and we are all (even the kids) looking forward to it! We’ll have our Thanksgiving on Friday. NO shopping for me. You die hard Black Friday people? Good luck with that. I’m gonna give CyberMonday a try this year.

7. I need a massage. There appears to be a corkscrew stuck in my trapezius.

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Join in with your own 7 Quick Take Friday post at Conversion Diary hosted by Jennifer!

thankful. 11.20.09 Happy Birthday PinkGirl!!!!

I’m so thankful . . .

For my daughter today on her 9th birthday!

Today, I’m revisiting a Pragmatic Communion post I wrote about her because I’m SO VERY THANKFUL she is still has the sweet spirit and vivacious enthusiasm for life I described two years ago. Her enthusiasm for everything in life comes from her authentic joy and it is contagious!

Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. [Do not break their spirit.]
Colossians 3:21 The Amplified Bible

My daughter is a free spirit.

She sings. Loud. She sings Disney princess songs and hymns. Praise songs and jingles. She sings her own personal compositions. Sometimes they rhyme, sometimes not. Her own songs are l-o- n-g. She sings about everything. Love. Jesus. Her Heart. Disney. Sometimes she throws in a line about gross bodily functions before cracking herself up because it is SO hysterically funny. (She’s 7.) She sings in the car and doesn’t care who stares. She will climb to the top of a playground structure and sing her songs to an audience in the sky. She doesn’t care if people can hear her. She wants people to hear her.

Please don’t tell her to be quiet.

She dances. She twirls. She vogues. She bounces. She skips. She runs when and where there is open space. She swings. HIGH. She calls out “Watch me!” and wants me to take her picture. This is what happy looks like.

Please don’t tell her to sit still.

She loves to dress up. She can’t watch “Annie” without pausing the DVD player for multiple costume changes. She “invents” outfits and hairstyles. She wears prints with stripes, pink with orange and mismatched socks for “flair.” She loves lipstick and jewelry. She loves pink. Not pastel pink. PEPTO pink! BOLD pink.

Please don’t “correct” her wardrobe selections.

She loves to perform. The fireplace hearth is her stage. She wrote a play when she was in pre-kindergarten. She sat in a chair for hours on a Friday night, writing on one piece of paper after another. When it was all said and done, written on each piece of paper were the lines of each character in her play. When I typed it up for her later, she knew immediately which paper to read from next as she dictated the dialog for me. The spelling was creative, but the play was complete with a hero, a villain, a quest, and lots of songs to sing.

Please don’t tell her to “act like the other kids.”

She finds wonder in so many things. A lizard hiding in the grass. A crushed acorn. The shape of a cloud. She can’t go for a walk around the block without stopping every few feet to pick up a leaf, pet a neighbor’s cat or point out something interesting. She wants to see everything and go everywhere. And she wants to tell you all about it. Because it’s made such an imprint on her, she believes she should share it.

Please don’t make absentminded comments when she’s talking to you. She’s smart. She knows.

Don’t get me wrong. She’s not wild and undisciplined. She understands that she should whisper in a library, sit quietly attentive and respectfully listen to her teachers in class, and wear her uniform to school. She understands that sometimes she needs to follow directions instead of direct her own elaborate scripts. She knows to share and to take something she finds to lost and found. She knows that if we forget to pay for the case of soda under the grocery cart, that we are going back inside the store to make it right. She knows proper manners for the using the phone, how to handle a laptop computer and how to carry scissors. She understands that she can’t break out of line at school to chase a lizard or twirl. She knows not to run in a parking lot and to look both ways before she crosses the street. She knows to wear shorts under her skirts so no one can see “London” and that she can’t wear makeup to school and church. She even knows the only time her belly button should show in public is when she is wearing a bathing suit.

What she doesn’t know yet is that someday she may be too embarrassed to express herself “out loud” like she does now. She hasn’t spent time with “that” person. You know, the person who will try to convince her that her free and confident self-expression is inappropriate or wrong. The person who will introduce doubt and self-consciousness.

I pray that when faced with that person – that criticism – she is confident enough to stand strong and be herself. I refuse to silence her just because of what other people might think. I refuse to force her to wear what I think she should or tell her that she should only wear two braids, instead of six. I refuse to make her sit down when there’s no reason she can’t run. I refuse to squelch her spirit – just because it’s different than mine.

Sometimes it looks like she is dancing without music. She’s not. The music is in her heart. We can hear it if we just listen.

Not allowing your children to do innocent but different things is the logical outgrowth of a belief system that emphasizes the symbols of faith rather than it’s substance. This shallow religion measures success more by the image than by genuine authenticity.
Dr. Tim Kimmel
Grace Based Parenting

She challenges me every day and I’m a better person because I get to be her mom.

THANK YOU, LORD!!!

 

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I’m participating in a month of Thanksgiving hosted by Rebecca Writes. If you want to join in, post something you are thankful for and then link up over at Rebecca’s blog!