If you love me, you’ll tell me I don’t need this gorgeous trench coat from Target because I don’t have the strength to say no to it’s call to me.  Tell me it’s ugly, old-fashioned, isn’t worth $40… just tell me something!

So I saw it.  I liked it.  I definitely need to read the graphic novel and see it again.  I grew tired of Dr. Manhattan’s bbp.  I thought Rorschach was phenomenal and didn’t want to punch Malin Ackerman in the face like I usually do.  All in all, I’d give it 8 outta 10.

I miss being a CaresTeam some days.  I miss the challenge and struggles off feeding the masses dinner on $20.  There was something greatly gratifying about conquering the obstacles that we had in our ministry and finding success in that apartment complex.  One of my favorite things used to be our biweekly shopping trips where I would spend hours scouring the weekly grocery store ads and planning all of our events and cooking around what was on sale and how much we could save.  I loved to accomplishment of spending $30 while saving $50.

Even though I’m no longer in charge of feeding the crowd, I still find joy in shopping the bargains on a smaller scale,.  So today after combing through the ads and planning meals for the next two weeks, we headed off to conquer the grocery list.  At the end of the day, the freezer, fridge and pantry were stocked.  We had saved 21% more than we spent and have everything needed for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next few weeks.  Now, who wants to come over for dinner?

There’s an easy test here in Flagstaff to see if it’s still Winter.  Look at my hands.  If they are dry and irritated, Winter has yet to say it’s goodbyes and depart so that we can be blessed by Spring.  Last fall my mom traveled to Michigan for my cousin’s birthday and found this amazing hand cream somewhere along the way.  The smell is pleasant without being overpowering, and it leaves my hands feeling refreshed and hydrated.  As much of my day is spent typing and working on other people’s computers, I hate the slimy and greasy feeling left behind by most lotions, but this one is AH-MAZ-ING!  You can buy it on Amazon, and I’ve even found it in a boutique downtown.  If you run across it, treat yourself to a tube.  Your hand will thank you.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve read a book that captured my attention like William P. Young’s “The Shack” recently did. I laughed. I cried. I couldn’t put it down, and when I was done I was both exhausted and renewed. This simple fiction guy meets God novel dares each and everyone who reads it to challenge how they view both God and themselves. It’s worth your time and the journey it will take you on.

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant “The Shack” wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!

So with my awesome time on death’s door (a bit of an exaggeration) and trip to Willcox, I’ve been bad about posting again. Thank goodness I have most of my posts half-written or in my trusty notebook. Anyway, be on the look-out over the next few days for everything I haven’t put to digital paper yet. You may need to scroll down a bit to catch it all,. Thanks for being patient. MIssed you!

5) You can say things like ‘twitter that’.

4) Where else (besides Facebook) can you seek out attention by acting emo?

3) Shaq, Christopher Walken, Martha, John Mayer, Dwight from the Office, Diddy, and Ashton Kutcher are doing it.

2) I’m doing it!

1) Everyone else is doing it.

Sometime in the middle of moving last fall, I broke my trusty alarm clock and was forced to find a new one. Being the geek I am, the first one I tried let me wake up to the music of my iPod. A genius plan if music actually had the ability to wake me up. So after a week of late mornings, I headed to Target to try and find another option. Lucky for me, they had a simple, yet loud, red alarm clock on sale for 10 bucks.  Even better than it’s pretty color, this alarm clock sets the time and time zone automatically when you plug it in. Needless to say for months I’v been more than satisfied with my purchase that is until this morning.  In case you didn’t know, Arizona is one of two states that do not observe Daylight Savings Time.  This is something my alarm clock was not aware of and something I didn’t consider when crawling into bed at oh-dark-thirty after yesterday’s marathon cleaning spree.  So when I woke up for church this morning and those big red letters displayed 10:45am, I didn’t really think much of it.  Disappointed in oversleeping and not being able to go to church, I rolled over and went back to sleep until my phone beeped at me.  You can imagine my surprise when my phone said it was 10;41am.  It took but a second for me to realize that time was not moving in reverse but that my alarm clock was set to DST.  Oopsies!  Worst part is…. 4 days later I still can’t figure out to reset it back an hour.

It’s been way too long since I’ve had the time and freedom to give my house a good once over. With the snow melting and weekend all to myself, I started cleaning and organizing with a vengeance early this morning and didn’t stop til well past three o’clock in the morning. From visitors to my bout of near-death illness, things in my life were not as they should be. So I organized the pantry, scrubbed every visible surface, purged anything that was unused or unneeded, cleaned and straightened the closets, and finally tackled the chaos known as my desk. Then because I was feeling adventurous (and everyone wouldn’t stop making fun of me) I took my Christmas decorations down. Yes, folks, its a week into March and my Christmas decorations are down and my house is sad and depressing. I hope you’re happy.

Cleaning for me has always been a cathartic experience. Most days I have no real desire to clean. I’m not dirty; my house isn’t disgusting. I just choose to stockpile my cleaning tokens and cash them in when I need to work things out in my head or when I’m needing mindless therapy. Cleaning to me is about control and the ability to choose, and once I start, it takes hours and even days to have things in such a way that I can stop and sleep without wondering if I remembered to alphabetize my cds and arrange the dvds by genre. I won’t even try and convince you I don’t have minor OCD tendencies. All I can say is it works and my house is lovely and ready for family to visit, but more than that my head and soul are in order, too. Beat that.

Recently added to my google reader feed is a lil website called http://cuteoverload.com.  Full of pictures of puppies and kittens it’s just the right amount of cuddly warmth to get you through the morning doldrums.  My recent favorite photo submitted by one of the site’s readers was entitled ‘Did You Make The Bed This Morning?’. I dare you not to giggle. If you, too, need a lil smile each morning, add this site to your RSS feed or bookmark it. It’ll make your day brighter, I swear.

I have a student worker who might just be my long lost pop-culture twin. Of the many things we have in common, our love of Taylor Swift (Tay Tay) sits high on the list. It’s nice to know that at least someone in the office is willing to argue with me whether “White Horse” or “Love Story” is a more reality-based song. (Don’t judge… it’s better than the WoW talk.) Anyway, I was informed that Tay Tay was on CSI tonight and as part of the episode they played a remixed version of “You’re Not Sorry” from her album Fearless. I swear this girl is everywhere and so far without the usual teen star drama. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that she stays successful and doesn’t follow down the dark path of so many before her. Otherwise, you might have too severely depressed fans on your hands.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.