Shoes! Part 5

I recently started a blog series on my favorite pairs of shoes. Below is a continuation. Enjoy!

These shoes are a perfect pair for the spring! They are just so feminine and spring-like. I love them! They are Mudd brand and I believe I got them at Shoe Carnival a few years back. I mainly wear these in the spring - they would just seem way too out of place in the dead of winter! They are quite comfortable and are great for work or play.

If I Didn't Have To Work...

I thought I'd take a break from my shoe blogs and share something I think about a lot:  What type of a job I would have, or what I would do if we won the lottery, or somehow came into a great wealth of money, and I didn't have to work.

I'm a pretty structured person and definitely thrive when my life is built around a routine. I could not imagine not having something to do each day. Now, don't get me wrong. I do love vacation and time off from work, but it would definitely not be good for me to not have something to fill my days.

The three main jobs I would like to do are: work as bank teller, work in a library checking books in and out, and volunteer by delivering meals for Meals on Wheels.

Bank Teller - When I was in college I was a bank teller and absolutely loved this job! I worked at one of the busiest branches in Springfield and just thoroughly enjoyed this job. My drawer almost always balanced, and I loved making a game out of each transaction I received - trying to get it done as quickly and accurately as possible. The people I worked with were all my age and we just had a great time together.

Library - I love to read and I LOVE the library! What a great concept - check out a book, read it, check it back in - all for free! I only read books once and just do not like the thought of having lots of books laying around that I'm never going to read again. Thus, the library is perfect for me. It would be fun to shelve the books, check them out, and see all the different types of books that are available.

Meals on Wheels - Meals on Wheels is a voluntary service that delivers meals to older folks who are home bound. I first heard about this service when I was six years old from my Aunt Marilee. She volunteered with this service and I thought it was the neatest thing. I have thought about it off on on, and have always wanted to be a part of it somehow.

So those are my thoughts on what I'd do if I didn't have to work. What would you do if you didn't have to work?

Shoes! Part 4

I recently started a blog series on my favorite pairs of shoes. Below is a continuation. Enjoy!

I fell in love with these shoes the minute I saw them! I don't remember what store I bought them at, but I know it was somewhere in Florida. These shoes are just great and I always get compliments on them. They are quite comfortable, too. The base is a brownish/purplish color with yellow and green circles all over. They go with so many outfits. I usually wear a size 9, but the store only had these in a size 9 1/2, and I just could not pass them up!

Shoes! Part 3

I recently started a blog series on my favorite pairs of shoes. Below is a continuation. Enjoy!

Who doesn't love a good pair of red shoes? Red is such a great accent color and is definitely very eye-catching, too. I found these shoes at Kohl's in the spring of 2009. I love these shoes! They are just the perfect accessory to compliment black pants. I will admit, though, these aren't the most comfortable shoes to wear. I don't wear these shoes in the fall/winter so every year when April comes around and I pull them out, I also pull out my Band-Aids! It takes me two-three times of wearing these shoes before my feet become accustomed to them again and I don't wear a blister. Oh well, such is the price to pay for cute shoes!

Shoes! Part 2

I recently started a blog series on my favorite pairs of shoes. Below is a continuation. Enjoy!

These shoes are great! They are comfortable, fashionable and can be worn with almost anything! I love them! (Okay, enough with the exclamation points!)

I bought them at DSW shoe store when I was in Florida a few years back. I can't find them online anywhere so am unable to give you ordering information. Side note: I LOVE DWS! If you've never been in one, you are missing out! They have rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of shoes, ranging from casual to dressy to sandals to athletic. There is a DSW shoe store about 10 minutes away from my in-laws in Kansas City. Ross knows that a trip to his parent's = a trip to DSW!

I have worn the shoes below with skirts, dresses, black pants, brown pants, and jeans. They are just so versatile and go with anything! I wish you had your very own pair, too!

Comment Issues

I am having issues with comments showing up on my blog postings. I've changed the background a few times recently, thinking maybe that was some of the issue. People told me they would try to comment, but they weren't able to. Now people have told me they have commented, but the comments don't show up after the postings. I have done a lot of research online but can't seem to find the problem. Have any of you had issues with comments on your blog, or problems posting comments to my blog? If you do post a comment, can you email me, too, and let me know that you commented? Thank you!

Snow Day

This is what we woke up to this morning:

I'm at work right now, but oh how I wish I could be at home! I would be in comfy clothes, sitting on the couch, fireplace turned on, watching The Price Is Right! Every school, including Springfield, in the surrounding area is closed today due to the snow. My work has a policy that if Springfield is out of school due to bad weather, then we can wear jeans to work. I do love this policy and have jeans on today. But if I could, I would rewrite the policy to read: If Springfield schools are closed due to bad weather, then the Assemblies of God Headquarters will also be closed.

If you're a teacher, student, or mom with school kids at home, enjoy your day and go play in the snow for me!

Shoes! Part 1

I love shoes! I have several pairs of shoes in my closet, probably too many, but I love them all.

I seem to have much cuter spring/summer shoes than fall/winter shoes. Warmer weather just lends itself to cute slingbacks or toe peeps. I have two-three pairs that I get compliments on every single time I wear them, from the same ladies who have seen the same shoes for as long as I have had them!

I thought it'd be fun to share my shoes with you in a series of posts. Enjoy!

I just bought these shoes a few weeks ago and I love them! They are Lottery Pump by Ann Marino and can be found at DSW. (I bought them at Gordman's so they were a much better price than what is listed online.) The shoes are in black, grey, and taupe. Gordman's only had two colors - grey and taupe. I went back and forth between the two colors, and grey won out. I'm half tempted, though, to go back and buy the taupe pair. These shoes are just so comfortable and taupe is a great neutral color that would go with anything. I love the bow on the front. So far I've only worn them with pants, but I think they are just screaming to be worn with a cute black or grey skirt and tights. The heal height on these shoes is perfect for me and they seriously are comfortable.

I Have Become My Mother

Sunday I did something I thought I would never do. Never do. I mean never, as in not ever do.

I bought a pair of rubber dish washing gloves. And in so doing, I became my mother. You can start calling me Wanda instead of Libby anytime now.

When we were growing up, and even still today, my mother would use rubber gloves when washing the dishes. I never really asked her why she used them, but every time she did the dishes she would have her yellow gloves on. I wore the gloves a few times when I did the dishes, but hated them. They were too tight and they smelled. I'm very sensitive to smells and the smell left on my hands after wearing the gloves was just unbearable to me.

I've found myself doing a lot of baking lately. All of my baking has left me with lots of dishes to wash, and it's just easier to quickly wash them instead of putting them in the dishwasher. I've noticed my hands itching a lot lately, and determined this is a direct result of hand washing so many dishes in HOT water.

When I was at my parent's house for Christmas I helped my mom clean up the kitchen. She washed the dishes and I dried them. And again, she had on her purple (such a nice change from yellow) rubber gloves while washing. I noticed this and started thinking that it just might be a good idea for me to invest in a pair.

So I did. And I have to say, they weren't that bad and my hands didn't smell as bad as I remembered them smelling when I was little. They're not my favorite thing to wear, but if it keeps my hands from being dry and itchy, then it's worth it!

Prayer

I used to keep a prayer list that I would update every week. I would try to pray for each person on the list every day. My list consisted of family, friends, and miscellaneous items that just came up.

I found myself getting bogged down with this list. I really wanted to pray for everyone, but it just seemed to take forever! And I noticed I would begin my prayers by spending a lot of time on the first few people, but would then get bored/restless/tired and start speeding through my prayers. I felt like the people at the end of the list always got the short end of the stick when it came to my prayers for them.

One day a friend posted something very similar to what I've just said above on her blog. You can read it here. She found herself in the same predicament: She felt bogged down with so many people and things to pray for and she didn't know how to fit it all in.

Her posting challenged and encouraged me. Although I did not go the same route she did with the text message reminders, I did come up with a prayer plan that fit into my life.

I decided that instead of making one big prayer list for every day, I would break it down into daily prayer lists. I assigned each person to a specific day and decided to pray for them on that day. I still pray for them as I think of them throughout the week, but now they have their own day and time that I devote all to them!

This process has worked out so well for me! I keep my list near my bathroom sink and pray while I'm getting ready in the morning. I have three-five people listed on each day, which is totally manageable to me, considering I used to have ten-twelve people on my daily list.

Perhaps you are feeling the same as I did and thinking how will I ever get through my prayer list and still have time left in my day? If so, I hope this challenges or encourages you, too!

No Satellite TV

Yesterday was Tuesday which means one thing: Ross and I have a standing dinner date with our couch and the Biggest Loser! We thoroughly enjoy watching this show and look forward to it each week. Every Tuesday night we can be found sitting on our couch, eating dinner and watching the BL. Most of the time we have something very BL-friendly, like pizza. :) We usually start the show after it's been on for about 10-15 minutes. We LOVE our DVR! It is so nice to speed through commercials. DVRing the show helps, too, because I usually get home around 6:30 and by the time I get dinner made it's past 7pm, when BL starts. So DVRing this show is definitely a must for us.

Well, last night after I got home I went upstairs to talk to Ross. He was working out on the stationary bike at the time so we didn't talk long. But what we did talk about was definitely serious. Definitely capable of altering our Tuesday night routine. Definitely hard to deal with.

[Okay, maybe a little dramatic. I read other blogs and see the use of their dramatics and think maybe I could do that too!]

He told me that our local channels were not coming in on the satellite dish. I guess the cable channels worked just fine, but not the local channels, perhaps due to snow and ice being packed on the dish. The Biggest Loser is aired on the local NBC channel which meant we wouldn't be able to see it that night, and it probably wouldn't be recorded, either. Seriously, all dramatics aside, we were both really bummed out about this! Until ...

... I was surrounded by a beautiful, white light and a golden halo appeared above my head. Ross saw me as an angel bringing him good news of great joy as the following words soothingly flowed out of my mouth, like a beautiful melody on a warm, spring day: "We can hook up the antenna from the bathroom TV to the TV in the family room and still get our local channels!"

And alas our evening plans were not ruined after all! We hooked up the antenna and NBC channel 3-1 came in as clear as a bell. We hurried to get dinner ready and were both sitting down and eating at 7pm, anxiously awaiting the Biggest Loser.

So this might be a little silly, but it made me realize how dependent we have become on technology! Ross and I laughed about that a bit and thought about kids today and how for some, a DVR is the only way they watch TV! My, oh my, how technology has changed since I was little. Just think about how it will continue to change, too!

On a side note about technology, we have another show we really like to watch: Million Dollar Money Drop. Look it up, it's great! Well we had planned to record it Tuesday night and watch it Wednesday night. Well, since our satellite was messed up we didn't think MDMD would record, so we went online and streamed it live!

Nothing Much Is New

Nothing much is new in our world. The first week of the new year and back to work went well for us. Ross wasn't too busy with work, which is nice. He did go up to Ft. Leonardwood a few times for his work to assess some cars that were damaged from the tornadoes that tore through the area on December 31, 2010. He said the damage was really bad.

Wednesday I came home to a freshly painted entryway and a new entryway table we ordered the week before! Our house is a two-story house and the entryway is open all the way to the ceiling, making for very tall walls. We decided after painting our family room (that has a vaulted ceiling) that we would hire someone to paint the entryway. It was just too tall for us to paint ourselves. A friend of ours who owns a carpentry business referred the painters to us so we hired them. They were there at 8am Wednesday morning and left around 4pm that afternoon. The color we chose is bagel - a warm tan color that just looks so nice!

I was excited to see the entryway table set up and in place. I'd wanted a table for that small area for quite a while. We did some looking at a few furniture stores over Christmas break for a table but didn't find anything. So we did what people today do - looked online and found the perfect table! I also found a lamp for the table and set up a picture frame that we received as a wedding gift, along with a "HOME" sign, put a mirror up on the wall above the table, and it's complete. It looks so warm, welcoming and homey now. I've so much enjoyed making our house into a warm, inviting home.

Saturday afternoon my dad came over and put in an electrical outlet for me, which was greatly appreciated. Then we headed to Joplin for Trevor's first Upwards basketball game of the season. I think this is the third year he's played, and this year Nathan is his coach! They didn't win, but looked like they had a good time playing.

Sunday we went to church and then home to watch the KC Chiefs in their playoff game. Unfortunately, they did not win. Better luck next year!

Now it's Monday and back to work. The forecast is calling for snow! They have predicted 1-3" for the Springfield area beginning today around 4pm and lasting through tomorrow around 7am. We'll see what comes of it!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!!

Today is my sister's 36th birthday! Happy Birthday, Stephanie! I hope you have a good day!

Happy 2011!

Welcome to a new year everyone! I started my blog on January 1, 2010, so it's now a year old! I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my life this past year.

I certainly had quite a year in 2010! Each year I like to think back on all the things that are different this year compared to last year. Here's what I have so far:

• I have a new car
• I have new glasses
• I'm married!
• I have a new last name
• I have a new family
• I have a new house (and actually moved twice within three months)

My list might not be big in quantity, but it's certainly big in quality! Getting married was by far the highlight of my year. In fact, on New Year's Day I asked Ross what the highlight of his year was, besides getting married. He was stumped and had no answer for me!

I do enjoy the beginning of each year and the fresh start that it brings. I gave up on making resolutions a long time ago and now like to make goals for myself. I find the goals are on my mind in January and some of February, but then start to fade away. I hope to do better this year at keeping them in the forefront of my mind. Here are a few of my goals:

• Read the entire Bible this year
• Run 2 half marathons or 1 half and 1 full marathon
• Complete scrapbooks for our wedding, our first year of marriage, our Hawaii trip, my marathons, my first house on Linwood street, and our first house on Westview street
• Knit a baby sweater (no, not for me, yet, just to have on hand!)
• Sew a shirt or skirt, something more challenging than just sewing a hemline
• Read 12 books

What are your goals?