Life on Dayton

Time Analysis

2009-10-19T19:59:00.005-05:00

As anyone who reads this blog already knows (all six of you), Sarah has jumped from the Blogger ship to start a Wordpress blog. Honestly...I blame Chelsea and her awesome blog for driving her away! With that said, Life on Dayton has been turned over to me. At some point in the near future, it will probably undergo a facelift so that it's really macho! (Rigggggghhhhhhttttt.....if by macho you mean lots of plants and/or fleece. What can I say? I am who I am)

Actually, it will become my gardening journal/blog and I promise myself and you that it will be updated every Monday and Friday at least. I know that the most important thing about having a blog is regularly posting so, that's my promise. I also may ask for input over the next few weeks as I try some different layouts/blog design choices so bear with me. Now, on to the important things...

The theme of this week for our family is time analysis (see also incredibly creative subject line). Sarah and I have both been convicted about where our time "goes" and how (un)productive we are with it. I have also enjoyed the added conviction that my life has become very worldly and I have lost an eternal focus. So, as part of some other things which God is doing in me, I am keeping track of how I spend non-work/non-sleep time this week. It will be instructive and, hopefully, life-changing (CHANGE being the key word there). So, check back here next Monday for a full report.

In the meantime, let me point you to tonight's dinner. Easy, quick, filling, and very good! See you Friday (if not before!)

Fried Rice With Egg

2009-10-03T09:14:00.003-05:00

This recipe is a Johnson favorite go-to meal whenever there isn't time to fix a large one because it takes less than 20 minutes.

Leftover rice is ideal but not necessary- it will just be bit more mushy if you haven't refrigerated it.

3 tbsp. oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. ginger

3-4 cups cooked rice

3 eggs lightly beaten

Soy Sauce to taste (I like lots!)

Salt and Pepper

Cook the rice according to package directions.

Place the oil in a large wok or skillet and turn the heat to high. A minute later, add the garlic and ginger, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Turn the heat down a little bit, and add the rice, a little bit at a time, crumbling it with your fingers to eliminate lumps if necessary. Stir frequently for 3 minutes. Make a little whole in the center of the rice and pour in the eggs. Scramble, incorporating them gradually with the rice as you bring bits of the rice back to the center. Add the soy sauce and stir. Add salt and pepper if necessary and serve!

Update on 101 in 1001

2009-10-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here's an update on what's been going on with my 101 in 1001 list: I have 923 days left...

I've completed 7 items!

#1- We paid off Corolla (in a round about way)

#39- I read the first Harry Potter book

#74- I visited IKEA

#75- I regrouted my shower

#76- I reorganized my bathroom

#94- I completed dressing appropriately for work (and still do)

#97- I got a new pair of glasses thanks to my Mom (they were a birthday present)

I've FAILED at 1 item:

#50- I didn't do a "Wayback Wednesday Post" each Wednesday

I'm currently working on items:

#2- So far, I've saved $70 because of completed items!

#3- So far, I've put back $10 to donate to charity because of my FAIL

#13- I'm working on Week 2 of 24 of walking my dogs twice a week

#19- So far, each dog has gotten their frontline and interceptor each month since July

#42- I got the newest photoshop on my computer at work so I'm learning quickly!

#45- so far I've made A's on my first two tests of the semester

#46- Hopefully, this puts me on track to get A's in half my classes

#48- I'm collecting the photographs of my 7 completed items

#49- This is my October update!

#51- I sent 2 letters this month- only 3 more to go before having 1 out of 6 months completed

#54- We have visited grandparents at least 1x a month since July!

#70- I completed September birthday's which makes 1 out of 10 times

#71- I babysat for my Mom once on August 1st (1 out of 10)

#81- With the calendar I bought from Office Depot, I've made this a habit!

So, that's where I'm at!

Community

2009-09-28T20:45:00.001-05:00

At my church, I am currently going through a study called “Redeeming Recovery Step Study.” It is the traditional 12-step program broken down, sifted in with Scripture and put back together. But it isn’t just for people with outwardly addictive behaviors- it’s for anyone that has sin in their life and doesn’t know how to deal with it. The sin, no matter how big or small, how out in the open or how hidden it is, affects everyone and needs to be dealt with in order to achieve that life that God purposed us to live.

Community is something that I personally feel is an important aspect of the body of believers that we, in the present age, neglect. Why do I think this? Humans were created to be in community with each other and with God. You can look at Genesis 2 and see this. God made Adam a helper, Eve, because God saw that it wasn’t good that he was alone. Even though Adam lived in perfect harmony with God in Eden, it still wasn’t good, as everything else had been thus far that God had created. Throughout the New Testament, we are constantly commanded to love others, honor others, serve others, and put others above ourselves. The community I believe we are called to live in should be described as real and authentic, and a place where truth can be spoken in love. When this is the case in the body of believers, we don’t have to feel like we have to put on the “every thing’s fine” face every time we go to church- instead, we can admit that we aren’t okay and it’s okay because it is a safe place. We can quit acting like everything in our life is perfect and be encouraged, rebuked, and helped in this community.

Satan tries to keep us from living in this kind of community. He wants to make us believe that we have to keep all of our junk to ourselves. He wants us to believe that no one cares or wants to deal with our junk. He wants us to keep everything in the dark; but God calls us to live in the light, to confess those things so that they can be forgiven. Not confessing them to others keeps us focused on ourselves and not on God, in an endless loop of self condemnation, and undealt with and this is not how we are called, as Christians to live.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 3)

2009-09-25T12:41:00.003-05:00

Here they are: 7 things you may or may not want to read about on this beautiful Friday afternoon.

1. Apparently, there is something in the water down in the Student Ministry Offices at First Baptist Church (where I work and go to church). Our new Student Minister, Zack, and his wife Autumn are about 3 months pregnant, our Junior High Minister, (also my cousin) Justin, and his wife Amber are almost 5 months pregnant, and the College Ministery, Brady, and his wife Melissa, are just over 1 month pregnant. And NO, I am not pregnant.

2. This has felt like the longest week ever. After getting back late Sunday after an amazing weekend in Galveston, and staying up till 1 am Tuesday working on our budget for Financial Peace University, having the usual Wednesday (which is long because of working and Bible Studies), and being so far behind on homework and trying to catch up that I am so glad that it is Friday today! Sleeeeeeeep!

3. Jim and I continue to love our Nissan Cube! It got us some great gas mileage while driving to Austin/Galveston, made it easy for everyone to find the house we were staying in, and still has that new car smell! We officially have tags for it now, so there is NO turning back!

4. Hopefully, this weekend, sometime, I can type up my September update on 101 in 1001. I've completed about 6 items, so I'm on track, I guess (it's still long way out so hard to tell) with 925 days remaining!

5. This year at the Great State Fair of Texas, they are serving Fried Butter- wow- that's all I have to say about that.

6. Fall is here in North Texas! As are Pumpkin Spice Latte's! This is by far my favorite time of year! I love the colors, the temperature, and getting to where fleece's!

7. I'm apologize that this blog isn't updated more often! I've had to do some prioritizing, and between school, work, and other "adult" stuff, this just gets pushed down the list! After I graduate (MAY 2010) I hope to devote more time to it!

Fall Minestrone

2009-09-21T21:20:00.003-05:00

Fall is definitely in the air! And as I listen to a cold front move into the area, I thought I would share a recipe that Jim made last week that was very, well, Fall-ish (and really good!)

Fall Minestrone (Rachel Ray: 365 No Repeats)

2 tbsp. EVOO

1/4 lb. bacon

4 garlic cloves

3 portobello mushroom caps

2 med. onions chopped

2 med. carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 stems fresh rosemary

8 fresh sage leaves

1 med. zucchini, diced

15 oz. can of cannellini beans, drained

14 oz. can petite diced tomatoes

1 qt. chicken stock or broth

2 cups vegetable stock or broth

1 cup ditalini pasta

Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat and add the EVOO. Add the bacon and brown for two minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery. Cook for 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the rosemary and sage. Add the zucchini and chopped greens and stir until all the greens wilt, 2-3 minutes.

Add the beans, tomatoes, and stocks. Place a lid on the pot and bring the soup to a boil. Uncover and add the pasta. Cook for 7-8 minutes at a rolling simmer, uncovered, until the pasta is al dente, with a bite to it. Remove the pot from the heat. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Officially a One Car Family

2009-09-12T16:45:00.003-05:00

So Jim and I made the big jump and are officially a one car family.

We had been experimenting with only having one car since the beginning of July, and it worked great! So, we decided to make the plunge. Which car did we get rid? Obviously it was going to be Jim's because his was a little older and didn't have air conditioning. Even though we had a payment on mine, it got better gas mileage, was newer, and had four doors.

But we didn't choose Jim's. Or mine...

Instead, we are now owners of a Cube Mobile Device.

I know- it's different, but hear me out.

We were going to look and just see if we were in a place to purchase a little bit bigger car because in making the jump to one car, it was going to be the one that lasted us until we began to expand our family, something that would last 5 years or so. We went looking at Toyota Rav 4's and Nissan Rogue's. We quickly learned those were just over our price range. After going back to Nissan to see if they could cut us a deal, our salesman said you should really look at the Cube to which Jim said, "I think those are the ugliest cars ever." Our salesman said they are very roomy and that most are surprised so we should at least give it a shot. And, well it we did, and it was awesome. Jim has at least 6 (or more, I haven't actually measured) of head room ABOVE his head (which never happens in a car) and it gets 28 mpg in the city, it has an iPod and Auxiliary input so it makes listening to the iPod or iPhone (which has the Ranger Radio Broadcast app) a BREEZE! We love it! We test drove it overnight, fell more in love with, got the numbers all together, and bargained away (Jim did this- I said nothing and let him make the deal and he did an excellent job!) and got the car Tuesday! We picked it up Thursday!!

So we own a cube and it's our only car!

And the only thing that I was disappointed in: after spending all that money on a car, they don't give you floormats! Really?

Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 2)

2009-09-04T22:45:00.003-05:00

Seven things that have nothing to do with each other, but that I want to tell you (whether you want to hear/read them or not).

ONE ONE ONE ONE

Let me reintroduce myself- my name is Sarah Johnson. I've been MIA for a bit because life in the non-blog world has been slightly overwhelming. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that today I got this beautiful vase of flowers from my bosses today with some awesome hand written cards (can we say "Words of Affirmation" is my love language) and it completely made all of the teary days of almost misery worth it, knowing that I am appreciated. Thanks!

TWO TWO TWO TWO

In an attempt to be more content with my place of residence, I took on a "home improvement" project: re-caulking my tub. It took a weekend (because you have to strip the old caulking, bleach the cracks, let it dry, caulk, let it dry 12 hours, and I added another layer, which then had to set for 24 hours) and I would just like to say that caulking is a LOT harder than it appears. But, I got it finished to a satisfactory level, and we're good to go.

THREE THREE THREE THREE

We had dumpster fire #6 this morning- not a bad one, mostly smoking ashes, but a pain in the you know what, nonetheless. The fire department said they put a camera up to try and catch the person doing it (I think it's our neighbor's grandkids who are usually up to no good anyway (for instance, we've randomly found two tennis balls in our driveway) and they're always banging on things and just look like they're trouble makers) but I'm not really sure I can believe the Fire Department at this point.

FOUR FOUR FOUR FOUR

Current shows I'm DVR'ing- Project Runway & Design Star; Future shows I'm looking forward to DVRing- Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance.

FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE

I've been playing a lot of Mario Kart on my Wii in the past week- I'm not sure why. I've just kind of been addicted to it. And Since I completely caught up at work finally, I've just wanted to play Mario Kart.

SIX SIX SIX SIX

I am so looking forward to having a three day weekend. I hope I can get a lot done and caught up on my housework.

SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN

Jim and I start our first Sunday as small group leaders at our church this Sunday. We are leading a small group of co-ed college students as we go through the book of James. We're really excited but are needing an icebreaker for Sunday. Any ideas?

Behold the goodness!

2009-08-28T14:37:00.003-05:00

I think I may have found the one food that makes everything better (for me anyway). GOAT CHEESE!

I have been a fan of goat cheese since I was introduced to it by Veronica (whose blog you can check out here) in Austin three years ago. It is, in fact, the one food I get the most grief over from the Missus. We had been married for about two weeks when I received a package from New Mexico. Marital bliss having no room for secrets, she asked me what it was because I was obviously bursting with excitement. Sheepishly I informed her "Ummm...I ordered goat cheese."

The look I got was one of bemused astonishment.

"You ordered goat cheese?"
"Yeah, I love it! You should try some."
(Crickets chirping)
"From NEW MEXICO?!"

"Umm...yeah, it's organic and the goats are free-range goats!"

Thankfully, the vows had been exchanged at this point because knowing that her future husband was willing to order goat cheese from New Mexico might have been enough to keep that "future" tag on there indefinitely.

Anyway, after throwing some goat cheese on week-old pasta leftovers for lunch today and warming it up so it was a gooey, cheesy, mess, I can tell you with certainty that goat cheese made these leftovers not only palatable but DELICIOUS! And, you can put them on just about any type of cuisine...Tex-Mex, Italian, American, Indian...whatever. I'm pretty sure goat cheese will make it better.

Life-changing this stuff is...

Update on 101 in 1001

2009-08-20T20:43:00.005-05:00

So here is an update on how things are going on completing my list:

19. Give the dogs frontline and interceptor on time every month (2/34)

I did this yesterday, and so I continue to stay on track!!

22. Apply to a show on HGTV

I actually did some research on this and you have to live in LA to apply to the shows they are taking applications for. But I have a couple of months, so maybe a new one will come out and they'll let people in Wichita Falls apply.

39. Read the first Harry Potter book

I only have 3 chapters left to read. I like it, but I'm not sure I love it enough to continue reading the series.

50. Do a “Wayback Wednesday” post each week.

So, this is officially the first item I will be unable to complete. It was a lofty goal, I suppose, and I dropped the ball this week. $10 to a charity.

81. Get the Johnson calendar up and look at once a week

I love our calendar. It's so awesome! I love writing on it, and it's been a big help in scheduling.

82. Buy dishwasher

We did some research on getting one and I'm just unsure it's going to fit in our old house cabinets. And, the money we were saving to purchase one now has to go toward paying for school. Oh well...

86. Have a garage sale

As of right now, plans for the garage sale have been tentatively made for Saturday, September 12th.

91. Take 10 road trips more than hour away (1/10)

Visited Lumberton, Tx July 24-27, 2009
SPIM (Summer Party in Mansfield) August 15-16, 2009

We spent last weekend in Plano/Mansfield and it was so fun. We were introduced to the game Quelf, and we actually just purchased it for our own game collection. We went and saw Time Traveler's Wife, and just had a really great time! Shout out to the GFED!

94. Dress appropriately for work for an entire week 4 times (1/4)

So, this entire week, I dressed appropriately. Tomorrow is my FAVORITE DAY! JEANS AND T-SHIRT Day!

So, that's all I got. I am still completely swamped at work, but good news is that the new youth minister has hired an assistant and it is awesome!! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

What I think about while cleaning my bathroom...

2009-08-19T20:33:00.004-05:00

Before beginning the actual post, I know it's been a while since I blogged. I have been SWAMPED at work. We hired a new youth minister (AWESOME) but right now I'm his assistant too, so I'm essentially administratively assisting FOUR ministries, and it's a little overwhelming at times. Praying for a new assistant for him soon...

Jim gets really mad when I complain about my house. REALLY mad. But, I'm really working on being more content. And as part of that, trying to make every room my own and make it as functional as possible. So, I got to cleaning, and scrubbed and entire wall by hand and a beasty, hard to reach corner. And instead of looking at things as things I hate about my house, I'm going to begin looking at them as things that I will look for in my next house, good and bad.

So, in cleaning the bathroom, here are few of my ideas:

-Charm is a must, and I definitely have plenty of that in this old house. Our shower is nestled inside a little cove that has an arched wall and I love it!

-I think I might prefer NOT having a plastic tub surround. I guess perfect world, it would be a claw foot, but tile is definitely preferred. The plastic is so NOT charming.

-Storage space is a must. We have a weird towel closet that is WAY deep and not very wide, so it can be tricky.

-We have a very updated vanity, which I love.

-We have a window in our bathroom which would be even MORE awesome if it looked outside and not into another room. Maybe next time...

-I am indifferent with the floor- I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It's a linoleum tile, so as long as it is easily scrubbable, I'm happy.

-No weird hard to reach corners for cleaning that are also unused space are a no go for me.

So, I hope Jim is happy that I'm trying to be more content...

Play by Play on my Morning Off

2009-08-14T08:50:00.004-05:00

7:30- Finally get out of bed and put on my glasses, wad my hair up, and leave to take my car to the shop.

7:57- Leaving the Toyota Dealership and heading to take Jimbo to work. His grandmother was nice enough to let us borrow her car while ours is being fixed. What's being fixed on it? Well, a few things: first, the oil needing changing, second, the dome light inside only wor

ked when you pushed on it really hard against the ceiling, third, the stripping on the front passenger door was flapping in the wind, and last, there was belt under the hood that was making this shrilling, embarrassing noise. So, hopefully they can get it done quick and it won't be expensive.

8:15- Drop Jim off at work. We were listening to the Kidd Kraddick show and it was really funny! Kenzie had called into J.C.

8:28- I arrive back home, let the dogs back inside and get on the list of things I wanted to do this morning. Cleaning the sunroom is first on the list!

9:00- I get finished with the sunroom and take a break, next on the list- laundry switch and guest bedroom.

10:16- I finished cleaning the guest bedroom, folded and put away about 5 loads of laundry that had piled up on the bed in there, and put the last load of laundry in the dryer. The dealership also called to let me know that the belt and tensioner had gone out and would need to be replaced, but that the belt wasn't covered under warranty: $33. The dome light was going to be completely replaced, and covered under warranty- but couldn't be done until Tuesday. The big surprise was the stripping on the side- $160 and not covered under warranty. The oil change was $30 and I had a $50 deductible. So the stripping on the side of the door gets the hold- everything else will hopefully be done today. Now, time for a break- coconut cream pie and a coke!

10:30- Time to take a shower, since I haven't done that since

Wednesday morning.

10:46- So I got caught up on the computer reading blogs, checking email, and facebook- now I'm really getting in the shower.

11:17- Done with showering and have my hair dried- I get so hot blowdrying my hair, even with a fan blowing on the highest speed possible. It's the reason I don't straighten my hair often. It takes so long and I get so hot that it takes hours to cool back down.

11:25- The dealership called and the car is ready! WAHOO!

11:44- Hair is straightened and make up is on and I'm ready to go!!

Wayback Wednesday

2009-08-12T19:08:00.002-05:00

So, here's a side of me you probably didn't know, or for some who might only know some about me, expect: I used to be a cheerleader. In fact, from the time I was in 1st grade until I was going into 8th grade, I did cheerleading! I was a cheerleader for the Jefferson Elementary Colts. I loved cheerleading, but I loved dancing more, and soccer even more than that, so when I had to make the choice of dropping one of 3 sports entering into 8th grade, cheerleading was the one to go. So for all who think I'm strictly a tom boy, I do have a girly side, somewhere.

Sarah on Getting Frustrated

2009-08-11T18:13:00.002-05:00

Today was a frustrating day for me. And there isn't really one thing that I can look back and point to that was the reason for the frustrating day, it just was kind of one of those days that starts our aggravating and snowballs to frustrating.

So what did I do to get over it? I cried. Yes, that's right. BOO HOO!

There is only so much that I can take before something just clicks for me. I overreact to everything negative. It's a flaw I have- I know, you didn't think I have any, but I do. And although I can work my way out of a problem, I first have to get all the emotions out by way of tears, and then I'm good. It doesn't even have to be a long one- just a few tears, choking up, and give me a kleenex and I'm back at it.

So that's what I did today with my dear friend Amber. And she listened, and then we moved on. What do you do when you get frustrated?

Over the weekend...

2009-08-10T19:17:00.003-05:00

Because I have wasted so much time and have some stuff I need to get done, here are the Johnson weekend happenings, bullet style, as seen by Sarah:

Friday evening, pedicure and school supply shopping with my mom (which was ridiculous considering she was doing it for 5 kids!)
Saturday morning- drive to Possum Kingdom Lake, feeling a bit uneasy. Started feeling better and actually got in the water.
Lunch at the Grille made me very sick.
Got back in the boat, but it was taking on more water than we were comfortable with
Waiting in line to load up the boat, I get incredibly sick and needed a bathroom immediately
An hour later, I'm still in pain, more embarrassed, and can't make myself go to the bathroom to save my life
Finally was able to go to the bathroom (sorry if it's TMI- such is life with IBS) at a gas station where I took some pepto and bought a roll of toilet paper should any unfortunate stops be required.
Get into the truck to come home and pray that I fall asleep so as not to think about the pain
Wake up about 20 minutes from home
Jim's birthday party with his parents and mine
Jim's birthday breakfast at the Diner
Church
Lunch at Jim's parents
Washer broke, but my Dad saved the day
Castaway Cove Waterpark Fun Day with our church
Home for cleaning/laundrying
SLEEP!

The end...

Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 1)

2009-08-07T14:58:00.005-05:00

I'm not doing ANYTHING at work- like, there isn't even any more jobs to make up for myself to do. I've reorganzied my files, cleaned the office, finished the to do list- nothing to do. So, of course I jump on Google Reader to check out the latest blog posts. My friend Chelsea had written on her blog, and it was a new thing- and so, I'm totally stealing her idea. She is an awesome blogger, and I have a hard enough time coming up with stuff to write, so any help I find is awesome. So without further adu, (and I have NO idea how to spell that) here it is, Volume 1. Seven things that have nothing to do with each other, but that I want to tell you (whether you want to hear/read them or not).

- -> 1 < - -

Sunday is Jim's birthday, and I still haven't finished shopping. We're just having a little family get together tomorrow evening. He's so hard (or maybe I make it hard) to buy for. I've already gotten him 2 things, have an idea for 1 other, and still have $35 bucks to spend.

- -> 2 < - -

I definitely chose sleeping in this morning over getting up and taking a shower. So, my hair is wadded up in a messy bun, pinned back; I didn't do anything besides work and lay in my bed yesterday, so it was completely justifiable in my head.

- -> 3 < - -

I started reading the first Harry Potter book last night. It's on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days; so far, I'm indifferent. Not bored, but not at a point where I can't stop reading. We'll see....

- -> 4< - -

One of the jobs I have to do as an administrative assistant here at church is rotate with the other secretaries on mail duty. I love it (except for when it gets in the way of me taking the day off) because you get to run the mail through this machine that postmarks it, then you have to sort it, and it' just fun to me; I don't know why.

- -> 5 < - -

I'm on the search right now to find a really great facial cleanser that's not expensive and that I don't have to order because I always forget to order, then run out. Right now, I'm using an Aveeno foaming cleanser. I'm not too impressed so far...

- -> 6 < - -

AT&T still hasn't come to pick up our phone line, that I wrote about here. They called to confirm an appointment today that says they'll be coming tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

- -> 7 < - -

I made an 82 on my final that I took yesterday for my Summer Class. This gets me a B, assuming I did well on the other things, so I'm happy. Taking a class in 6 weeks while working full time was hard. I'm never doing that again. Hopefully, I won't have to, because I'm set to graduate in May. Praise the Lord...

Timbeerrr....

2009-08-06T12:39:00.002-05:00

This past Friday, Jim and I stayed up a little later than normal. I had just gone to bed about 12:30, and Jim was up playing a game on the computer. I must have been in that state where you are dreaming, but not really completely asleep because real world happenings can still effect you- you know where something happens and you can't remember if you dreamed it or it really happened? Well, I thought I had dreamed it, but Jim came into the room and asked if I had heard something. I said, "Oh, maybe I did? I don't know. Go look out back!" And it turns out a tree branch had fallen and taken out a line. Here are the pictures from the next morning.

That window is (well was! I moved my bedroom around Sunday) where our headboard was; like my head literally would have just been on the other side of that window.

And here is the gigantic tree branch that fell. Unfortunately, no damage was done to Topanga, which has been parked since July 5th, so no free insurance money.

Once Jim realized what had happened that night, we called Oncor to come out and check the lines. We didn't know what kind of lines they were, if they were hot, or what. The guy got there about 1:45 and told us it was our telephone/cable line and that we would need to call our phone company. Well, it wasn't our cable line because our internet and cable were still working. Since we don't have landline phone service, it's basically just a useless phoneline. So we called our phone company...wait, we don't have a phone company?

I spend about an hour trying to figure out who to call. I finally resorted to calling 611 on my AT&T cell phone and asked them to transfer me to the landline department. There was NO WHERE on their website (not even under contact me) just a regular customer service number. They made you enter a word to describe your issue (IE Bill) and when I put in phone, they wanted a phone number (which we don't have). I finally spoke with someone who said they would come take care of it the next day, Sunday, to make sure and leave the gate unlocked.

Sunday morning while at church, we got a call saying they were going to come take care of it. It's now Thursday, and the phone line still lays draped across our property.

I do give HUGE compliments to my Jimbo who got out there with an ax and hand chopped that enormous branch apart and hauled it all away. Now, if they would come get the dumb wire...

Wayback Wednesday

2009-08-05T22:28:00.005-05:00

I know that it's 10:30 p.m. and I didn't actually get this post up before normal people would read it, but it's still Wednesday, so it still counts towards the 101 in 1001 list. Check this picture out...

Can you pick out which one is me? You can't? Oh, maybe it's because I look like a boy in a dress. I'm the girl with the chili bowl hair cut in front of my little brother in his tux and my cousin Kaleigh, the cute little blonde. That's my Aunt Joy, the beautiful bride who is the aunt we went to visit last week (she now lives in Lumberton!) I remember when we first met Joy, and how cool we thought she was! We were so excited to get to be a part of her big day!

Now, she is an amazing photographer, so if you want to check her stuff out, just visit her site!

Update on Sarah's 101 in 1001

2009-08-04T12:48:00.002-05:00

I'm officially on day 24 of my 101 in 1001 project. Here's what's going on with the list:

1. Finish paying of the Toyota Corolla- - ->Now that Jim’s school loans are paid off, we are able to now start putting extra money toward to the principle of my car to pay it off sooner!

19. Give the dog’s frontline and interceptor on time every month - - -> July was on time! Only 33 more months left...

46. Get A’s in 3 of my remaining 6 classes - - -> As of today, I have changed my degree program from a Degree in Sociology (which would have been pretty worthless without a masters) to a Bachelor Degree in Applied Arts and Sciences (which is probably the easiest bachelor degree I can attain at this point). A positive to this is that I now only have 4 classes left and will (crossing my fingers) graduate in May 2010. Yay!

49. Update my blog once each month on 101 in 1001 - - -> Here is my first blog update within the first 30 days of beginning! Again, only 33 more months to go...

50. Do a “My Day in 6 Words” post each week - - -> I'm not as good at this as I thought I was going to be (it's hard to be creative with six words), so it's being changed. I will be doing a Wayback Wednesday post each week instead, becaue those are more interesting! So, check back tomorrow for it!

54. Visit grandparents once a month - - -> I went over to Jim's grandparents last Wednesday to hang out while the Pastor from our church came to visit/meet them. It was a lot of fun! Next month, I'm going to visit my grandfather!

71. Babysit 10 times for my Mom for free - - -> I went and stayed with my brother and sister while my Mom ran some errands on Saturday, August 1st!'

81. Get the Johnson calendar up and look at once a week - - -> I need to take a picture really to prove this one, but it's been up and updated each week!

Take 10 road trips more than hour away - - -> As blogged about previously, we went to Lumberton, Tx July 24 through 27th to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins!

94. Dress appropriately for work for an entire week 4 times - - -> I'm on a streak, so hopefully I can finish it! And, just to clarify, it's not that I ever dress inappropriately for work, I just prefer to wear jeans and a t-shirt, and not business like clothes. No one has ever said I couldn't wear a t-shirt, but, I'm an adult, and should dress like an adult, so I'm working on it.
Monday August 3
Tuesday August 4

So there you have it, lots going on!

On Being (Er, trying to be) Creative

2009-08-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

My friend Melissa is a very creative person! She and her husband just bought a house and so, she thought she could be creative and save some money. I wanted to hang out with her, so we decided to take on the project together. Here is what we started with:

Yes; Ugly! I know, and we thought we could make it pretty. It's marbled cardboard. So, we thought about decoupaging. So we got to it. And, here's what came out:

I think we can call this a creative FAIL! BUT, I give us A for effort, and we still got to hang out and have a great time, so although it was a waste of time, our time wasn't wasted. Oh well, better luck next time.

Vacation

2009-07-31T10:41:00.003-05:00

So, I was trying to wait to get pictures to post before putting up my vacation wrap up post. But, I'll just have to share photos later.

We left Friday. My Mom had left with my 5 youngest brothers and sister in the van at 3:30 and Jim and I drove in my Mom's new car (Nissan Altima- it's so hot! I love driving it!) with my sister and her boyfriend, Gary. On a GPS system, the time for the trip, no stops, and with traffic was 6 and a half hours. (Lumberton is just north of Beaumont). We left at 5, stopped twice, and did in fact arrive before 11:30. The funny thing was that about an hour away from Lumberton, we caught up with my Mom who had to stop a few more times than we did. But, that's what happens when you travel with small children.

We stayed with my aunt and uncle! Saturday, we laid around after a good breakfast (cinnamon rolls and bacon) while my aunt (who is a photographer) took my sister to take some of her Senior Pictures. (Here is a video of her work!) Then we went to the Beaumont Country Club to swim our life away! Dinner that night was fabulous! Shrimp Bruchette (Sp?) Catfish, beans, and much more! It was sooo good! (Granted- I did get sick because of all the "fried"ness, but it was soo good!)

Sunday, we had biscuits and gravy, and then packed up to head to the beach! So much fun, again! So relaxing and a great time! We were all exhausted and sandy when we got home. We cooked out hamburgers and then hit the hay.

Monday, we were sad to leave, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Jim and I drove the mini van home (and with an added body- my oldest cousin came with us because he is going on the Mission Trip next week with our Junior High group at our church) and I thought Jim was going to go craazy! It was a good lesson in family planning!

Vacation (Sarah)

2009-07-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

Friday after work, we headed out to Lumberton, Tx, where my Aunt and Uncle live with my three sweet little cousins. It was such a fun an eventful trip, and as I get back into the real world, I'll tell you more about it.

But, the one thing I hate about vacation, is that evening after you get back, especially if it was a long drive or exhausting trip, and the unpacking/cleaning up that has to happen. UGH! Mix that with summer school, pups that aren't potty trained (or forgot they were) and having driven almost 17 hours over the past four days, and I'm ready for bed.

Too bad my bedsheets are in the washer....

Best. AFP. Ever. (Jim)

2009-07-23T09:55:00.002-05:00

Sarah shared this on Google Reader today and I had to post it simply because it is sublimely awesome! Enjoy...please.

Before and After....

2009-07-22T21:34:00.006-05:00

So, I switched the living room around on my quest for contentment with my house. Here is the before picture...featuring, of course, the roses my wonderful husband bought me.

But, as I said, I wasn't totally happy. So here is what I came up with.

But, I'm not sure I like it. You see, I'm trying to rearrange because I no longer have my "coffee table" because, well, because I'm a dog owner.

Yes, they chewed it apart.

So, now, I'm trying to decide whether I like it or not. So, let me know what you think, but only if you'll be completely honest.

Grilling...

2009-07-20T08:15:00.001-05:00

As an early birthday present, Jimbo got a grill, from his parents. So, the following weekend (last weekend) we tried it out with the Sharp's and Bindel's. I must say, I was incredibly proud of Jim for his grilling and menu that he prepared, especially since it as his first time. Jim made homemade guacamole, black refried beans, and Dr. Pepper Marinated Steak Tostadas. I know, it sounds different but it was SO GOOD! So, I thought I would share it with you:

Dr. Pepper Marinated Steak Tostadas

Meat and Marinade:

1 lb. skirt of flank steak

1 (16 0z.) bottle Dr. Pepper

Tostadas:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

8 (6 in.) corn tortillas

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. black pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

1. Pour Dr. Pepper over steak and refrigerate 4 to 12 hours.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry tortillas 8-10 seconds on each side. Season with 1/2 tsp. salt; drain on paper towel lined plate.

3. Prepare grill. Remove steak from marinade. Combine 1 tsp. salt, brown sugar and pepper. Rub on meat (we actually added a little extra of each of these to make sure it was good and covered). Grill meat 3-4 minutes on each side. Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

4. To assemble tostadas, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tortillas on baking sheets and sprinkle with cheeses. Slice steak into thin strips. Distribute among tortillas, and bake 5 to 6 minutes, until cheese melts.

They were oh so good! Let us know what you think!

My Friday In Six Words

2009-07-18T09:46:00.000-05:00

School Assigment Completed; Leaving Work Early

Sexuality, the Media, and Children

2009-07-17T11:12:00.003-05:00

Before I get into the topic named in the title, I would like to point out that Jim and I have now posted over 100 times to our blog. And, if I get my 101 things accomplished, it will not take much longer to get the next 100.

Here is the question on which I had to submit a writing assignment this week. "In March 2007, the AP initiated a self-imposed week-long ban on reporting anything about Paris Hilton (CNN.com, 2007). Was that a reasonable thing to do? A month earlier, Newsweek's cover story was "Girls Gone Wild: What are celebs teaching our kids?" Find the story and discuss it. Why are Paris Hilton and Britney Spears celebrities and should they be? The following is my response:

First of all, I think that a weeklong ban on reporting anything Paris Hilton was a joke. Maybe, if it had been a little longer of a ban and on all things celebrity gossip, we could have actually seen a difference, but a week, on Paris Hilton only? Please. You were just scratching the surface of an enormous glacier. And I say glacier because I’m not sure we really even realize the enormity of what we have gotten ourselves into with tabloids and the business of celebrity watchdogs, reporting on their every move and mistake. The article by Deveny and Kelley was fascinating, well balanced, and well written, in my opinion. There are a few things that stick out to me.

“Like never before, our kids are being bombarded by images of oversexed, underdressed celebrities who …” (3rd paragraph). This is a completely true and defining statement of the world we live in today. You can’t check out at the grocery store without seeing at least 12 different pictures of celebrities and couples who are cheating on one another, supposedly, getting Botox here and implants there, getting pregnant, or dying of some drug problem that rehab just doesn’t seem to be helping with. It’s not surprising to me that the San Diego teacher hears her seven year-old students using words like “sexy” and flirting, a generation of “prostitots?” One thing is true for me: I’m almost terrified to have kids, knowing what I’m up against, and raise them in what my husband and I deem the right way. It’s going to be a hard job, but I think I am up for it. I’m one of the (future) parents wondering about the effect our “racy culture may have on their kids and the women they would like their girls to become.” But, just as I have posted in my response to the study questions for this week, I think the major solution must come from parents. Values should be taught in the home. I feel very strongly for the solution that calls for greater sensitivity of parents to the influence of the media on young people. I personally believe that it should not be left to the schools or churches to educate our children about sexuality, violence, etc. Schools and churches have so much red tape that they have to try to maneuver to even teach their subjects, it is putting ridiculous expectations on them to try and be the parent, too.

I’m up for the task of raising children in the world we live in because I know it can be done well, especially with young girls, which the article focused on. (Boys are another issue- I feel they should be raised in a way that teaches them to respect women and not look at them as objects to be used.) The article stated that “it is a great time to be a girl,” because there are other things that girls can find to define themselves through besides sex and physical attractiveness. The struggle will be to do the right thing from the beginning and just as the article stated “know thy enemy.”

This class, and text book, will be helpful in knowing exactly what the biggest influences are on children and will also be a reason for accountability on my actions, as it has been said that children do watch what their parents do, even though they would never admit it. Despite all of the statistics on how awful our media, I believe parents can be the counterbalance to the negative impact our media has. The producers produce it because the people buy it, and parents can begin by learning to say “No” to purchasing the Bratz dolls or trashy magazines to have laying around the house and be the change they want to see.

Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are celebrities because they are famous and well known, good, bad, or ugly. And because people wanted to know more, the media had to get more to tell them. Do I think they should be celebrities? No, but I only have control of who I make a celebrity in my life, and they aren’t it. All I can do is teach my children the values that I think are important, and educate them about what’s going on in the world. And each day I pray that I have the wisdom to do that.

Victorious!

2009-07-14T11:51:00.003-05:00

Quick update:

I am playing singles in the Wichita Falls City Championship tennis tournament this week and played my first match last night. I WON (6-2, 6-0)!!!

This is remarkable because it is my first victory in singles tournament play (bringing the record to 1-4) and I played fairly well. My next match is Wednesday @ 6pm.

In other news, the midnight Harry Potter showings are all sold-out so I will not be seeing that movie tonight. Sad day...

Evil Garden Critters!

2009-07-13T13:03:00.005-05:00

Behold the picture of evil in the garden. He sure doesn't look all that vicious does he? But this, my friends, is a Tomato Hornworm (I'm pretty sure) and he will devour a tomato plant (the leaves of that plant to be specific) in the course of an evening if allowed to ravage unmolested. To be honest, they are beautiful to look at. But I watched this one go to town on a couple of tomato leaves and was astounded to see how quickly it ate the entire leaf. I found TWO on this cherry tomato plant. Fortunately, I did not have to kill these guys because it was time for me to uproot and compost the plant anyway (the heat has gotten to my tomatoes and they will not set fruit anymore nor will the fruit that's already there ripen). Just thought I'd share with you...

Oh, I'd also like to point out the "Jim's Shared Posts" section to the left. The one from today "The Part They Don't Tell You" is a fantastic statement about true community and its blessings and heartaches. I strongly suggest you read it.

Our One-Car Experiment (Jim)

2009-07-13T11:55:00.002-05:00

Well, we did it. Sarah and I decided last Monday (July 6th) to go an entire week using only one car. Why would we do such a thing? The reasons are varied but all focus around us attempting to determine if we could live as a one-car family. We would do this to:

Sell my car to help pay off Sarah's car.
Save money every month on petrol.
Save money on car insurance.
Attempt to reduce our effect on the environment.
Slow down (less busy = better life IMHO).
Spend more time together (this was an added benefit that I hadn't even considered until we did it. My workdays start better and end better when I get to be with Sarah for 10 minutes at the open and close of business)

How did it go? In a word, AWESOME! There were a couple of times when not being able to take our separate cars created a bit of extra stress as we tried to rush out the door to get to work on time. However, on the whole, it really wasn't that hard and I LOVED the things it did to my quality of life. For example, not having a car meant that I could not drive somewhere for lunch. What did I do, instead? I ate leftovers at the office and walked over to a cafe to enjoy reading Harry Potter. It was relaxing and helped me come back to work energized for the second part of the day. I found that my whole week was more slow-paced which, as you all know, I LOVE! Sarah and I did have to do a better job of planning (packing lunches, errands run, leaving for work earlier, etc.) but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Additionally, we are hoping to save the money because we want to get to a place financially where we can live off of just one income so that we are ready when we start growing our family. Granted, we know that the Lord will provide whenever (if-ever) He chooses to give us children, but it's not a bad idea to try to be as ready as possible when that arrives.

Also, as Chelsea can attest, carpooling with your spouse is fun and a whole lot better than the alternative. I enjoyed the time in the car with Sarah.

So, there you go...the Johnsons...well on our way to being a one-car family!

Sarah's 101 in 1001 (April 7, 2012)

2009-07-12T12:45:00.023-05:00

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Here is my list of the things I want to do, broken up into categories so as to better keep track of them over the next 1001 days.

Finances

1. Finish paying of the Toyota Corolla

August 4, 2009- Now that Jim’s school loans are paid off, we are able to now start putting extra money toward to the principle of my car to pay it off sooner!

September 12, 2009- Corolla is paid off because we traded her in for a new car! I guess it's kind of a copout, but the item is to pay off Corolla, so it's done!!

2. Save $10 for each completed item

3. Donate $10 to charity for every item not completed

4. Pledge to KERA at least a one time gift

5. Begin paying off student loans

6. Buy 10 scratch off tickets

7. Buy something off overstock.com

Health/Exercise

8. Weigh between 140-145 (my normal weight range)

9. Workout 3 times a week for 6 consecutive weeks

10. No carbonated drinks for 7 consecutive days

11. Run 3 miles without stopping

12. Get up at 6 am 2 consecutive workweeks

13. Walk my dogs twice a week for 6 consecutive months

14. Resist eating out for 2 consecutive weeks

15. Hike Wichita Mts.

16. Bike to work 30 times

17. Take my lunch to work for a week, 10 different times

18. Take a picture of everything I eat for a week, 3 times

19. Give the dogs frontline and interceptor on time every month (2/34)

Hobbies/Crafts/Sports

20. Learn to sew

21. Sew a item of clothing and wear it in public

22. Apply to a show on HGTV

23. Play a round of 18-hole golf

24. Compete in a city tennis tournament

25. Assemble a Family Tree

26. Read 25 books off the Time Top 100 List

27. Watch 25 movies off the AFI 100 movies in 100 years list

28. Enroll and take tap dancing classes

29. Attend a professional soccer game

30. Go to a ballet

31. Go to a concert

32. Make a scrapbook of 101 things that I’m thankful for

33. See Josh Hamilton hit a homerun at Rangers Ballpark

34. Catch a foul ball at a major league baseball game

35. Go camping

36. Fill a scrapbook

37. Complete a puzzle of 500 pieces or more

38. Reread the entire Chronicles of Narnia series

39. Read the first Harry Potter book

40. Bake and decorate a layered cake

41. Cross stitch an entire project

42. Learn to use photoshop

43. Watch an entire set of movies in a row

44. Make a pie from scratch

School

45. Finish school

46. Get A’s in 3 of my remaining 6 classes UPDATE: As of today, I have changed my degree program from a Degree in Sociology (which would have been pretty worthless without a masters) to a Bachelor Degree in Applied Arts and Sciences (which is probably the easiest bachelor degree I can attain at this point). A positive to this is that I now only have 4 classes left and will (crossing my fingers) graduate in May 2010. Yay!

Blogging

47. Blog 5 times a week for 4 consecutive weeks

48. Photograph and post each completed item

49. Update my blog once each month on 101 in 1001

50. Do a “Wayback Wednesday” post each week.

Relationships

51. Send 5 page-letters once a month for 6 consecutive months

52. Host a party

53. Have family portraits taken

54. Visit Grandparents once a month (2/34)

55. Plan a Girls weekend

56. Cook a 3 course meal for family/friends

57. Send flowers to 10 women in my life

58. Have lunch with my Mom 25 times

59. Have lunch with my brothers and sisters 25 times.

60. Have a picnic in a park

61. Completely update my iPhone/Mac Address book with emails, addresses, and phone numbers

Spiritual

62. Read the entire Bible through once

63. Journal every day for 2 consecutive months

64. Unplug for an entire weekend (5 pm Friday – 12 am Sunday)

65. Memorize an entire book of the Bible

Kindness

66. Pay for the person behind me in line at a drive thru 5 times

67. Donate again to locks of love

68. Take goodies to the office 10 times

69. Send a package to 10 friends that don’t live in Wichita Falls

70. Purchase all birthday cards for a month and send them on time 10 times

71. Babysit 10 times for my Mom for free (1/10)

Home

72. Simplify my home, where everything has a place

73. Switch entirely to natural/green housecleaning products

74. Visit IKEA

75. Regrout my shower

76. Organize my bathroom

77. Decorate my bathroom

78. Organize the sunroom

79. Decorate the sunroom

80. Donate/Sell 25 books I have read and won’t read again

81. Get the Johnson calendar up and look at once a week

82. Buy dishwasher

83. Redecorate the dining room

84. Organize the garage

85. Build something myself for my house

86. Have a garage sale

87. Convert completely to reusable shopping bags

88. Find a system for keeping the paper piles in my home organized

Travel

89. Stay at a bed and breakfast with Jimbo

90. Get a passport

91. Take 10 road trips more than hour away (1/10)

Visited Lumberton, Tx July 24-27, 2009
SPIM August 15-16, 2009

92. Go to an amusement park

Other

93. Create a recipe book of 100 of my favorite recipes

94. Dress appropriately for work for an entire week 4 times (1/4)

95. Make a new 101 in 1001 list

96. Feel comfortable in a two-piece bathing suit

97. Get a new pair of glasses

98. Actually finish an entire journal (I always leave blank pgs.)

99. Take an art class

100. Wear make up to work two workweeks in a row 4 times

101. Convince Jim to do a 101 in 1001 list.

Honest Scrap

2009-07-08T20:50:00.005-05:00

I, and Jim (since January) have been blogging for just over 6 months. This post is #95 (Chelsea, you've got me beaten by a lot! I promise to take on your challenge of posting everday!). However, this is my first ever "Blog Recognition Award" (and I don't really know that it is an award). It is the Honest Scrap Award. I was nominated by Chelsea and all I can say is thanks for having faith in me even when I suck at blogging! You're awesome! Here it goes- 10 things you might not know about me:

1. I was a competitive dancer for most of my younger life. I was in dance shoes by the age of three and quit when I was 17. I did tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, but I preferred tap and jazz. I quit dancing to focus on soccer, because I didn't think I had the body for dancing AND I enjoyed knocking people over in soccer MORE than I enjoyed dressing up. It was still really fun, and I don't regret it at all. I've even looked at getting back into some adult tap classes. We'll see.

2. I am totally OCD (to the point of annoyance) about having my house clean. I don't like being that way, and I'm trying to simplify/ minimalize our home so that I don't have so much to be focused on (less stuff = less dirty stuff). This OCD'ness leads to an incredible discontent with my house at times, which is embarrassing to admit, but hey- I'm laying out all my honest crap.

3. I had knee surgery in 2002 to repair a torn ACL in my knee, which ended my career (if I ever really had one) in soccer and those 8 months of being out of soccer was a time that I know now that the Lord was using to take my mind off of things that were secondary to Him and refocus the center of my life on Him. (That was a really long sentence).

4. I am a people pleaser, and this isn't something that is always to my benefit. I many times care more about pleasing people than I do my own health or God. To know that I have let you down in some way is the greatest form of punishment. My parents always instilled in me that they expected 110% and thinking about letting them down is what drove me sometimes- not so much that I loved what I was doing. I think that has carried into other areas of my life, sometimes in unhealthy ways (like being OCD about my house).

5. I have an incredible fear of being sick. Most of you do know that I have been diagnosed with IBS, and after not making it to the bathroom ONE TIME, I know incredibly limit myself on what I can do. Anything out of the ordinary, stressful, or new that I may want to do will many times not get done because of my fear of getting sick and embarrassing myself again.

6. I love fast food for it's convenience. (Maybe this links back to not making a mess in my house/car?) I know that it is incredibly unhealthy and I've seen "Super Size Me" and it still doesn't fade me. I'm a sicko.

7. I am forgiver, but not a forgetter. If you hurt me once, chances are you won't have another chance to do it again. I tend to be incredibly critical and judgmental of people. I'm always watching to see what you do or say to either use as a weapon against you or to justify something in myself. Isn't that awful?

8. I almost completely cut my pinky off one time while carving a pumpkin at Halloween. Lesson learned: always wash and dry your hands after cleaning all of the gooey stuff out of the middle. Don't immediately grab a 7-inch serrated knife and stab it into the pumpkin. Your hand will slip off the handle and rip you finger off as it slides down the blade.

9. I also had to get stitches another time because I was laying on my back with my legs in the air (making a right angle with my body) and holding a Dr. Pepper can in my feet. The can dropped and hit me right on the bridge of my nose, slicing it open.

10. I don't drink enough water. 60% of what I drink is Dr. Pepper. The other 30% is sweet tea. 10% is water.

Now I’m supposed to nominate 10 bloggers. I’m not going to because I don't read that many.

Kimberly Ginnings is one of my dear friends from high school who is one of the coolest, most fun, people I know. She is a great friend to go get coffee or tea with, eat a good meal with, or just hang out with and talk things through.

Emily Fulcher is another dear friend of mine from high school who is a good friend for me because she is married and young! We just connect on a special level that is different from the bond I share with other friends.

Tammy Trembley is a co-worker of mine who is one of the most hard working people I know. She has an awesome sense of humor and does a great job at running Upward @ our church!

Where is my checkbook?! (Jim)

2009-07-07T11:44:00.004-05:00

The alternate title to this post is: "Or Jim's Adventures in Being a Bachelor."

I know, I haven't blogged in a long time and I feel awful about it. Chelsea over at Roots and Rings has my favorite blog on the internet and updates every weekday and makes Sarah and me feel like blogger failures because of her consistency and content of her posts. So, maybe we'll just have to get our competitive juices flowing and start posting consistently again.

As most of you are aware, my lovely bride was MIA for four days back at the end of June. She was in Grapevine helping with our church's Junior High Camp and generally helping do all of the logistical work that goes into an endeavor like that...which is wonderful. Except, when she's making things run smoothly in Grapevine, she is not making things run smoothly on Dayton. So, what did I learn in my four days of forced bachelorhood? Let's break this down bullet-point style:

In a lot of ways, Sarah is the grease that keeps my life running smoothly. It's easy to lose track of just how much she does on a daily basis that simply makes life work, especially around the house.
One of my sin tendencies is laziness. Knowing that I have the responsibility as the spiritual head of our family helps spur me on spiritually as well as physically. Without Sarah around, I didn't feel like doing anything. I think I went running once in those four days, I checked on my garden less, I cleaned less, I slept more...etc. My wife kicks my butt into gear just by being around because us husbands like to impress our wives with all of our accomplishments. I don't want her to think she married a lazy good-for-nothing...
I don't like sleeping by myself anymore. I did not have a good night's sleep the entire time she was away. You get used to being next to someone. You get used to being able to talk to your spouse before you fall asleep. I love sleeping next to my wife and not doing that is detrimental to my sleep and my health.
I love conversing with my wife. I laughed a total of four times (compared to my daily average of 759 times) while she was gone. Sarah is funny and makes me laugh a lot. She is also my best friend and the person I share everything with...whether that be the latest Rangers story or what the Holy Spirit had shown me in preparation for Community Group. Talking on the phone just isn't the same.
I am a boring person (just ask our dogs). What did I do for fun those four days? I read two complete Harry Potter books and watched the Texas Rangers. I'll say it again, without my wife, I am a boring person.
I am not very good at organization. It's quite possible that I ask Sarah where something is in our house five times a day. This is part of what I mean when I say that she is the grease that makes our family run smoothly (and this will only become more true as our family grows over time). Well, needless to say, I couldn't find anything while she was gone (mostly because I put stuff down where it shouldn't go and then didn't have her keen observational skills to fall back on to find it).
I love my wife and miss her when she's not around.

Before this trip, Sarah and I had only spent two nights apart from each other. I am hopeful that we will not have to spend many more nights apart in the future!

Back from camp...

2009-06-28T18:58:00.003-05:00

So I've been absent from the blogging world because of preparing for and being at Junior High Camp. We took 78 seventh and eighth grade students to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. Brian Hunter was our evening speaker and he did a phenomenal job at connecting with the students, making the biblical principles he was teaching applicable and understandable to them, and was a lot of fun to hang out with! His wife and kids were awesome, too.

Aaron Wagner was our worship band and they are old friends of Justin's and were at our Disciple Now this past March. They did a phenomenal job as well.

But now, it's back to a more "normal" schedule. So, I should be back to blogging more regularly!

Raw cookie dough can kill you? (Jim)

2009-06-19T10:28:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm a little nervous. Apparently, Toll House Cookie Dough has been contaminated with E. coli and eating it raw has hospitalized some people.

I ate four of those little chocolate chip squares (before baking) last night! I'm telling all of you this so that if I end up dead from cookie dough poisoning, you'll know who to blame!

ON a serious note, every time I see one of these stories I become more convinced that eating processed, packaged, or pre-prepared food from an industrial food source is a bad idea (and that's before you consider the ethics of how factory food is made and what it is doing to our bodies).

Hopefully, I am not on my way to food poisoning from cookies!

Street View, Camps, and Crisis

2009-06-18T14:42:00.003-05:00

Google's Street View Car: Take a look at the vehicle that's looking at you!

If you click on the above link, you will see a picture of a car who, and many others like it, drove up and down most every street in the United States to bring you "Street View" on Google Maps.

A cool feature, but is it really that necessary? I haven't had ANY time yet where having it on my iPhone has made a big difference. But, it's cool to look at pictures of places where you've been out of town and where your friends live.

Okay, enough about that-

I have been overwhelmed and stressed to the max (at least until Wednesday) and all details have been finalized for Junior High Camp 2009. Our theme is "The City" and we are spending 4 days and 3 nights at the Great Wolf Lodge, in Grapevine, Texas. We are taking 110 people and I'm excited, but pray and hope I haven't overlooked everything. Basically, camp for me will be fun once the last child has gone home Friday night.

Today has been a testing week- there are issues going on for both Jim's family and mine, and it's just been a hard week. But, we are looking to the Lord for comfort and guidance.

Community (Sarah)

2009-06-10T15:10:00.005-05:00

Community is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. To be more specific, community in the church/among Christians.

I guess the first time I really remember thinking hard about community was when I started dating Jim. He still lived in the wonderful city that is Austin, Texas, and on Tuesday nights, he had Community Group. It was a group of people from his church who met together and discussed the deep things of God, the hard things of life, and had lots of fun doing it. All of them are still good friends (and I am happy to be apart of that group by marriage). How could you not want that?

Then, I started thinking about the friends I have in my life. I have my best friends from high school whom I still keep in touch with, but they don't live in Wichita Falls (actually, that is false: Kimberly does, for the summer!) so it's hard to have "community" with them. I have my best friend Amber, who lives here, and although I tell her she doesn't count because she married my cousin (therefore becoming family) she does count bigtime! We've also been hanging out with Brady and Melissa some, which has been awesome! And, I can't forget my hilarious friend Lindsay, who has become dear to me, but will be moving on at some point. PLUS, there are numerous couples, for whom we babysit their kids, dogs, or houses, or any combination of the three, who are also special to us.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that life is just better when you have people doing it with you. Saying that I don't have friends would be a complete lie, as seen in the above paragraph. But having people who are doing life with you is something on a completely different level. To add another dimension to it all, having people who are Christians to do life with you is something that is hard to find!

As the administrative assistant for the college minister here (who happens to be Brady that I spoke of earlier) he wanted to start a midweek get together for the guys during the summer. Jim jumped at the opportunity to pour into lives what had been so lovingly poured into his from his group in Austin. The women's mid week group followed. We both meet on Thursday nights and are both going through the book of Ephesians.

But this is more than a Bible Study. We had our first meeting last week, and I was in charge of leading the group. In doing my studying, I found an interesting article. It was called "10 Ways to Avoid Building Community in the Church." It sounded interesting, so I looked at it. Although it is written from a sarcastic point of view, it was one of the truest, heart piercing things that I had ever read. You can look at it here. I have been guilty of at least all of those at some point in my life, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. So, we were going to make this group different. This group was going to have to commit to coming, commit to praying for each other, and commit to discussing what we were talking about. It wasn't going to be a come and go when you feel like it. Sounds harsh, doesn't it?

Well, here is how it is in my mind: Community is something God wanted for us, according to Acts 2:42-47. But, it doesn't come easy, as don't most things for which are "good" for us (reading the Bible, praying, obeying, etc.) because we have to set aside time and put forth effort. Community is no different. So, just like you have to commit to reading your Bible everyday, you have to commit to being apart of a community. So, as we continue on the quest, I'm interested to see what happens. Interested and excited! Life is hard enough- going at it alone is harder, and so I want to be apart of a community who will come alongside me when I need it, and whom I can do the same thing for.

Update on Life (Sarah)

2009-06-10T11:04:00.000-05:00

I haven't been doing a very good job of uploading to the blog.
But life has been busy.
While there are lots of things on my mind, the thought of sitting down to write them are like the first steps when you set out to write a lengthy research paper. I know once I get started, it will be easier, but it is just daunting right now.

Last night was the first night in a week that Jim and I slept in our own bed with only our two dogs next to us (on the floor of course!). And it will be the last for a while. Sure, there will be some days here and there, but mostly, life is busy right now. It's summer, I guess!

Some things I want to blog about in the coming days (which will actually probably be weeks):

Community
Homeschooling
Parenting

Some weighty subjects, that I don't even feel I will scratch the surface of, but want to get it out, anyway.

Random Thoughts on a Friday (Jim)

2009-06-05T09:40:00.005-05:00

Since it's a random thoughts post, I thought we should go bullet-style:

Re-reading The Fitzwilliam Darcy Trilogy and had a thought: if people drank as much in real life as they do in 19th-Century literature, I think that half the population must have been perpetually intoxicated. Explains a lot about history, actually...
Watched three different Harry Potter movies over the weekend. Those are the best book-to-movie adaptations I've ever seen. I absolutely LOVED them and cannot wait for the newest one to appear on July 15.
Will probably lose all of my pepper plants to little pests called aphids. Bummer...
Ran 4 miles in 44 minutes on Sunday; that 11-minute mile pace is what I'm shooting for at this point so I was excited!
Food poisoning equals no fun.
Watching more than an hour of cable news at one time is bad for your health and could potentially make someone go insane!
Pandora is (as I think I've mentioned before) AWESOME! If you're looking for a station to listen to, try Julieta Venegas. Trust me...

Happy Friday!

Not Me Monday

2009-06-01T21:48:00.001-05:00

Today's NOT ME MONDAY post has been compiled over the last couple of weeks-

I did not leave raw chicken and beef in their grocery sacks on the table after I dropped them off at home one Tuesday. I was running errands, and did the shopping on my lunch break.

The next morning, I took a shower and was shaving my legs, when all of the sudden the water goes cold. I did not just decide to not suffer through it and only shave one leg. Even if I had, I definitely would not have worn cropped pants so that it was noticeable.

Last week, I did not make two huge mistakes in a row using Hotwire.com for the first time. After booking a hotel room for one couple coming to camp with us, I did not book a second hotel for only one night when I should have booked it for two. Then, I definitely did not go and rebook another night, without changing the dates. This (if I would have done it) would have left me with three different rooms for the same night instead of the one room for one night and another room for two nights. I would not make such a huge mistake. It also did not take me about 2 hours to beg and plead with hotwire.com to allow me an extra "courtesy" refund to make everything right.

Quick Garden Update (Jim)

2009-06-01T10:21:00.007-05:00

Happy Monday! I wanted to put up a few pictures from the garden taken on Friday morning.

Pictures of flowers from one of my cucumber plants (top) and one of my pole bean plants (bottom). One of the most educational and surprising things about gardening has been the beauty of the flowers on vegetable plants. I'm an ignorant city boy and had no idea that tomatoes came after flowers or that cucumbers would produce these beautiful golden yellow blooms before producing fruit. Fun, no?

Check it out...BEANS! The excitement of watching something grow from seed to this is fantastic!

That's all for now...

2009-05-29T20:10:00.001-05:00

Sitting at the Ranger Game (#2), I was reminded of a family sitting behind us at Saturday's game in Houston. The dad clearly didn't know much about baseball. One of the first things he said was "Baseball games are much better in person." Duh!

Anyway, the Rangers are now up 4-1 in the top of the 2nd. This is because they decided to intentionally walk Chris Davis (who leads the Rangers in strikeouts), load the bases, thinking the next batter, Taylor Teagarden (Hook em' Chelsea!!) would be an easy out. He then got a hit and scored two runs.

I told Jim that deciding to walk Davis cost the A's the game. He said it was too early to say that and he's right. Anything can happen- especially with the Rangers.

The family I spoke of early left that game on Saturday early saying that no one comes back from a 5-1 deficit. While the Astro's didn't come back, I turned around, not being able to take his stupidity anymore, to tell him that anything could happen with Rangers.

He clearly didn't go to many games.

TxTag--I love you. (Jim)

2009-05-28T10:58:00.004-05:00

You hate toll roads, I hate toll roads, Texas politicians hate toll roads, heck, EVERYBODY hates toll roads. Wait a second, are you kidding? I LOVE toll roads (sort of)! As a result, I wanted to share my love letter to TxTag with all of you.

Dear TxTag--

In a world full of traffic delays, congestion, and stop lights, you shine forth as a beacon upon the roadways, beckoning to all that there is, truly, another path. You say "Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden and let me show you a better way."

This past weekend, my wife (as dear to me as you are TxTag, she is first in my heart) and I were able to take advantage of your services on toll roads in Austin and Houston. Formerly, our travels would have been frustrations of sitting in traffic and stopping at the 9,473 traffic lights between Leander and Spicewood Springs (yes, Cedar Park, I'm talking to you). Even worse, the dreaded I-10 and I-45 stretches of Houston traffic nastiness would have made me a quivering wreck of a man. Before I met you, that stretch of completely stopped traffic on I-45 heading north out of Houston would have reduced me to an incoherent mess.

But, no, you rescued me from all that. You said, "let me take you on this luxurious bypass of Leander and CP and drop you off a mile from your destination. Here, I'll even put a mint on your pillow." As we prepared to go to battle on I-35 to get out of Austin, you swooped in and saved us, even letting us laugh at all those poor fools below us stuck on that miserable stretch of interstate highway. Oh, and after leaving that Sunday Rangers win over the Astros, you came to our rescue yet again, taking us on a scenic journey on a certain Hardy Toll Road and putting us back on our homeward course with nary a brake light in sight.

Oh, and TxTag, let me not forget to sing your praises in allowing us to do all of this without having to stop at those evil "Exact Change Only" toll booths. I was there, without a coin on my person, and you put your hand out and said, "Do not worry, follow me."

TxTag--my friend, my trusted companion, my help in time of trouble, I only have one more thing to say. I love you.

Fondly yours,
Jim

(Five days later, looking at his TxTag account balance)
"Wait a second, it costs HOW MUCH to use the toll roads? TxTag, I hate you.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-28T08:26:00.002-05:00

Sarah here. This past weekend was so wonderfully good. It began on Thursday before noon as we headed down 281 toward Austin, Tx. We had a table reserved at 7:30 at Kerbey Lane on Kerbey Lane for 11. While everyone wasn't able to make it (especially hope you are feeling better Mrs. Lam!), it was still a great time of catching up and good conversation. Jim even rubbed himself a blister on one of his elbows talking about things that just fired him up.

Friday, Jim had breakfast with James, and I went to Marshalls. We don't have Marshalls in Wichita Falls, only a Ross, and while Ross is great, Marshalls is SO much better. But, moving on...we left Austin for Houston around 4.

Houston was awesome. We stayed with the Hurst's who made it an awesome, relaxing weekend. They have a sweet pup named Rookie, an awesome house, and generally just made it a great, no-stress, relaxing weekend for us. We went to two (count em' TWO) Ranger games in Minute Maid Park (that has a roof- glad for it because it rained a lot, but never could get used to watching a baseball game INSIDE) and ate at this great restaurant called Boondoggles. We left Sunday, for the long drive home, and got to our house around 11.

Monday was going to be a day of rest and recuperation (I have no idea if that is how you spell that) but we ended up going to the lake, trying out a new tube, I got sunburned (yes, I did wear sunscreen), and then had two of my dear friends from high school over for dinner.

Then, I had to come back to work Tuesday. Bummer-- but I guess it pays the way for me to have such wonderful vacations! Thanks Hursts! We love you guys!

Blogging on the Go

2009-05-27T08:26:00.003-05:00

So, I've just set up posting abilities from my iPhone, and Im seeing how it works. All I did was type in a text message to BLOGGR and this is what happened.

Farmer Jim Update (Jim)

2009-05-19T09:57:00.016-05:00

A momentous event occurred over the weekend so I figured it was a good time to post an update about the garden. The momentous event? First signs of non-leaf or onion food!

Below you can see the first tomatoes of the season as well as the first head of broccoli to make an appearance. Also, some onions I pulled yesterday hanging up to harden for storage.

What else is growing? Pretty much everything has taken off at this point: beans, black-eyed peas, corn, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, peppers, herbs (dill, lavender, rosemary, basil, sage), and artichokes. Oh, and GRAPES (see picture)!

Here's a picture of the herb garden (left) and a big picture of the raised bed section of the garden (right):

Exciting times for Farmer Jim! I'll post pictures of the rose bushes and flower gardens later...

Bad Mornings and Fun Nights

2009-05-13T08:33:00.002-05:00

Do you ever have mornings where you just wake up in a bad mood? And then, every little thing that happens just gets on your nerves even more, even things that on a regular day you would just normally let roll of your back? I'm totally having one of those mornings and I just want to go back home and get in my bed.

Last night was a really great night. Right after work, Jim and I headed to a 9th grade girls Bible Study. A woman I teach with in 5th and 6th grade LIFE groups (which is Sunday School at our church) also teaches a 9th grade girls Bible Study (she has two daughters in 9th grade). They were going through the book Lies Young Women Believe and the Truth that Will Set them Free and one chapter they were on suggested that they invite a couple to the group to share about their relationship in dating, and their thoughts on dating in high school, looking back; one of those what do you wish you would have known then what you know now, questions. It was such an honor to be asked to do that, and it was such a sweet time with those girls (who I used to be an intern for). They wanted to hear all the details of how we met, how the relationship progressed to dating, how Jim popped the question, and what advice we would give looking back. What would you have said?

After taking sweet Maddie home (who turns 16 on Friday! We've been meeting on a weekly basis since she was in 5th grade, so it just makes me feel really old....AH!) we went home and watched the Rangers WIN (and since the Angels LOST) and become 1.5 games ahead in the AL West! I did study a little for my final on Friday- but I've got about 100 pages left to go, so I probably should start on that tonight. I really hate school.

So now I'm at work, looking at my to do list for the day and not really motivated to do anything. Maybe I'll go get me a Dr. Pepper and that will help.

"NOT ME MONDAY"

2009-05-11T15:23:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.I don't have much to confess because of being on my back for most of the weekend, but one thing from last week:

I work for the College and Junior High Ministers at First Baptist Church. The Junior High Minister is my cousin, and the College Minister and his wife are becoming great friends of mine and Jim's. Anyway, before we knew each other a little better, he did not tell me that I had sent him an email with my husband's phone number in it with an inappropriate subject line. After reading it, I did not put Jim's Johnson as the subject line. I would never do such an inappropriate thing.

Milestones and Movies

2009-05-11T11:30:00.003-05:00

I did it. I reached my first marathon training milestone. I'll wait for your applause to die down before I continue...

There are about 7 different milestones on this training endeavor and it is extremely gratifying to check the first one off. Oh, what's the milestone? I ran for thirty minutes at my desired marathon pace without stopping to walk. For the runners in the crowd (or the athletic folks), that's not that big of a deal. However, I have never been able to do this before. Even when I was running 6 or 7 miles at a time last summer, I had to stop and walk every 5 minutes or so. Not anymore! VERY exciting!

My poor wife was confined to her bed for a lot of this weekend because of back spasms. As a result (and also due to poor weather outside), I watched THREE movies on Saturday. The best (by far) of the bunch was Slumdog Millionaire...it was a great movie. Great story, great casting, great music, and a happy ending (the last part is especially important to me...this is why Shawshank Redemption is my favorite movie of all time and Pride & Prejudice is my favorite book; I want a happy ending). I also went to see the new X-Men movie at the theater with some guys from my Junior High sunday school class I teach. It was surprisingly good (I was expecting to be bored out of my mind...I liked it a lot). And I finished the day with Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories--not a life-changing experience but a good, fun story.

Oh, and may I share something ridiculous with you? Church's CHICKEN is offering a free corn dog with purchase of a large soft drink (and a complimentary triple bypass). Never mind the nutritional value of that last statement...a fast food fried chicken joint is now selling corn dogs. And people wonder why American culture is dead...

Hi/Lo Thursday

2009-05-07T13:23:00.003-05:00

Sarah here. This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

Lo's:
- Josie (our new little dog) woke up in the middle of the night again last night throwing up. Poor girl- but not a fun thing to do at 3 in the morning. Jim is such a good husband to clean it up.
-While being awake for Josie's sickness, we started smelling smoke. LO (no pun intended) and behold, dumpster fire number three (since we have lived in our house) was billowing. Awesome- after cleaning up throw up, Jim DEFINITELY wanted to call 9-1-1.
-I've constantly been struggling with some anxiety issues about some stuff and it is just making my tummy hurt. BOO!
-We had a big rain/hail storm last week, and a lot of Jim's plants were ruined because of it. BUMMER!

Hi's:
-We made homemade strawberry jam from scratch this past weekend and it is delicious!
-I only have one more final to go before I am finished with school this semester. After this semester, only 6 classes until I graduate. PRAISE THE LORD!
-I was able to put on a pair of jeans today that I haven't worn in probably a year. AWESOME!

2009-05-04T18:10:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

We got some curriculum in the mail that our College Minister looked at to see if he might want to use it. When he decided not to, he told me to send it back. So, I boxed it up, and took it to the mail area upstairs to be sent out. The next day, it was in my box. I thought maybe someone got confused about where they were going (that I was sending them out) and so I put them up in the mail area again on Friday.

Well, this morning, they were in my box again. I called Bill, the guy who knows EVERYTHING in our office, and asked what was wrong. He didn't know, so he told me to take them to the post office. So I did today and did NOT feel like an idiot when the postworker told me that I had not switched the return and "send to" addresses.

Weekend Happenings

2009-05-04T11:03:00.005-05:00

Friday Night- As many of you know, Jim and I love baseball, and more specifically the Texas Rangers. In fact, in the Fall, we are going to be playing on a co-ed softball team. So, for a fun date night, we went to the Plex (a local putt-putt, go-kart, batting cages, arcade, and laser tag place in town) to the batting cages. The score was Sarah 7 Jim 4*, which means, I won. (The * denotes that Jim's machine ran out of balls and so for the last 4 pitches, there was nothing. I guess technically he could have beat me, but probably not!) Here are some pictures:

After the batting cages, we went to eat at United Marketstreet and then went to Academy to buy two gloves and a baseball. We bought the baseball because it was super cheap, but looking at the gloves was overwhelming, and expensive, so we didn't get gloves.
Saturday- We got up at 8:30 am to headed with my Mom and some of my brothers and sisters to Charlie to pick strawberries. Here is a picture:

It rained on us pretty much the whole time but it was so fun and peaceful, and made me want to buy some land somewhere and build a house on and have some chickens and strawberries.

Sunday- Jim (with my help towards the end) made strawberry jam from the strawberries we picked on Saturday. Here is the jars:

When my Mom made it for us last time, it was the best Jam we had ever had! Hopefully, ours is good too!

Blogging Absence

2009-04-24T07:42:00.003-05:00

To all two of our faithful readers, I (Sarah) have been unfaithful to you. And in fact, I will continue to have to take some time away from the blog. As you may know, if you read the blog, I took on a little too much right here at the end of the semester. Well, I finally got the video done yesterday, and the lady said it was "great!" So that made me happy. But now, I have 9 days to finish a 12 page paper (I have 1 1/2 pages done) and also to do a 3 page paper. Then, that will leave me 11 days to study for my final in that same class. It is very doable, but I just need to stay on task. So, until, at least, May 4th, unless something HUGE just comes up, I may not see you again! : (

I HATE THE WAVE! (Jim)

2009-04-21T11:37:00.005-05:00

Or, "I paid good money to watch the Rangers play and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

Sarah and I got to do one of our favorite things on Saturday...catch our beloved Texas Rangers in action at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (RBiA). We took advantage of a special promotion the Rangers had and were able to get two decent tickets and a parking pass for $25. Speaking of special promotions and good deals, if you are a baseball fan I highly recommend you check out this and see just how little money you can spend to go to a Major League Baseball game. Anyway, we drove down to Arlington with enough time to eat at a "Macaroni Grill." Notice the quotation marks and listen to this cautionary tale:

As you probably know, Sarah has an iPhone which is near and dear to her heart. Most of the time, it is a great little device. However, we used it to give us the location of Arlington (TX) Macaroni Grills and, whaddya know, there is one RIGHT ACROSS FROM RBiA! AWESOME! We drove down there, followed directions and started to worry:

(Me) "Turn right here, babe."

(Sarah) "Are you sure? This looks like a one-way street."

(Me) "I'm sure, this is where the Macaroni Grill is supposed to be located."

(Sarah) "I don't think this is a Macaroni Grill."

(Me) "No, but it sure does look like a good place to get shot."

Turns out that iPhoney had taken us to an empty parking lot with overgrown weeds and rusty construction equipment. There very well may have been a Macaroni Grill there in 1987 but there wasn't one there now. We ended up eating appetizers at On The Border--a decent enough restaurant but one we have in Wichita Falls.

No worries though, on to the ballpark! Here are the high (and low)lights:

First really good pitching performance I've seen in-person at RBiA...a true pitcher's duel and I actually got to give a standing O for a Rangers starting pitcher (Kevin Millwood, 9 IP, 2 ER) as he walked off the field before the bottom half of the 9th inning. (Highlight)

Surrounded by friendly and fun fans in our seats (all total strangers). (Highlight)

Sarah got to eat a Lemon Chill. (Highlight)

That Lemon Chill was $4.75. (Lowlight)

It was the first game all year the Rangers hadn't hit a home run and the thing Sarah had most been looking forward to was hearing "the music" and seeing the fireworks when a Rangers hitter hits a home run (FYI it's the theme from The Natural). (Lowlight)

Josh Hamilton's inability to hit a baseball this season. (Lowlight)

Seeing Ian Kinsler steal a base in person. (Highlight)

In the 7th inning, the fans in the centerfield bleachers started the wave. (See below)

I HATE THE WAVE! It's obnoxious, it obstructs my view of the actual reason I am attending the BASEBALL GAME, and it shows a distinct lack of fan awareness. Millwood was pitching in the bottom of the 7th (I think) and trying to keep the game close. He twice had full counts that inning and were we (the fans) standing up and making noise and cheering him on? Of course not, we were too busy worrying about doing the FREAKING WAVE. Not only that, but this was the wave that would not die. I think the thing made it around the stadium intact 5 or 6 times! The people in front of me were laughing because I was getting so angry.

Even though the Rangers lost and I had to sit through TWTWD (bonus points if you get this initialism), we had a blast! The weather was gorgeous and we were watching our favorite baseball team play in front of our eyes.

Learning to Say No

2009-04-16T10:39:00.002-05:00

My entire life, I have been a competitive, overachiever slash perfectionist; and I don't say this to brag. Add people pleaser to that list, and you are cooking up a good case of anxiety. All of this added together, and you can see that I have a terrible problem saying the word "no."

March 31, I am staying pretty busy, but not overwhelmed. I work 8-5, Monday through Friday, use my lunch hour on three of those days for school, meet with a girl I have been meeting with for about 4 years, once a week, meet with another girl every other week, doing a Beth Moore Bible study with a group of girls, and I'm also a math tutor twice a week. That's plenty to do.

So why did I add something else? Because I thought it would be a quick buck, and it was stupid. I agreed to edit a video for a local high school soccer team, and it just isn't worth my time. The video needs to be done in a week and I have a 12-page and 3-page paper due in a little over 22 weeks. And I'm starting all of it today.

Guess I should have added procrastination to the list.

Easter!

2009-04-12T10:23:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter to all! I hope that you have a marvelous day!

Easter is a special day, especially to followers of Christ, because this is the day that we celebrate his rising from the dead, defeating death and sin, and ultimately, we celebrate our salvation.

However, it is incredibly easy to look over this point, and focus on the secularization of the holiday. Now, don't jump to conclusions. I don't have a problem with Easter Bunny, coloring eggs, egg hunting, or candy. I did it as a child, and all of my young siblings still do the same.

So what do I celebrate today? I celebrate the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose three days later. Because I am an imperfect human, I can in no way earn or gain access to God because of my sin. (Even as a born again Christian, I still need the grace that only God can give to cover my iniquities. The word "christian" is not synonymous with "perfect" and I think sometimes others forget that.) I have to deal with the same temptations, issues, and problems that everyone else does. The only difference is because I believe that Jesus did conquer sin on the cross, paying my debt to God that I could never pay on my own, I can have a relationship with God who helps me to look at those temptations, issues, and problems in a different light.

Today I celebrate what my faith in Christ hinges on: the fact that 2009 years ago, God had it planned that Jesus would be the sacrifice for MY sins (and yours!) if we would only believe. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Shhh...

2009-04-09T16:19:00.001-05:00

Don't look now...but a certain baseball team the Johnsons root for is 3-0! Hope springs eternal...

Wayback Wednesday

2009-04-08T20:24:00.003-05:00

Today, I am instituting a new blog entry for Wednesdays: Wayback Wednesday!! I'll choose some random photo from my archives, and blog about it.

Today, I start with a picture I found from halloween. I'm not sure how old I am, but I'm guessing 4 or 5. In it with me is my cousin and one of my bosses, Justin Bindel. I also have a more recent picture of us from Christmas 2006. No the most recent, but recent enough.

Justin is almost 5 years older than I am, and I've looked up to him my entire life. He has encouraged me in ministry, help me learn random things like photoshop, and according to our spouses, we have a lot of the same personality traits when it comes to the way things look (perfectionism is the word I was just given by my husband!) He has an incredible ministry here with the Junior High students, he married one of my best friends, and is (with my other boss, Brady) the best boss(es) I have ever had!

Wasn't I the cutest "My Little Pony" ever? Justin just looks plain scary. BOYS!?

Walking is for losers

2009-04-08T11:55:00.002-05:00

So call me a loser then. I am in the sixth week of marathon training and I think that it's going extremely well. I have been able to handle everything that's been thrown at me so far with no problem. This is the first stage of training and the goal is to get me to able to run at a conversational pace for 30 minutes straight (conv. pace for me is around 10:30 for a mile). Right now, that means running 6 minutes, walking 2 minutes, running 10 minutes, walking 2 minutes (do that twice). This is a great way to build up conditioning because the walking breaks allow me to mentally tackle the running segments because they are broken down into doable portions. The biggest jump of training happens next week when I go to run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute (three times).

I was telling Sarah last night after I got home from playing tennis that I think I may be in the best aerobic shape of my life right now. Tennis was easy and I feel like the runs, while challenging, aren't just killing me. Now if I could only lay off the Kahlua cake...

I smell smoke...

2009-04-08T10:33:00.002-05:00

An odd thing happened yesterday morning...

I went outside at 7am because I heard a truck in the alley and saw flashing lights. For the second time in as many months, there was a nice little fire burning in one of the dumpsters in the alley behind our house. Both times I only saw a bunch of ash and flames so who knows what's going on. (Homeless person trying to stay warm? Neighbor who's an idiot and dumps smoldering ashes from a wood stove in the dumpster? Arsonist? Bored kid?)

Here's an extra twist...the two days that it has happened on have also been days where the Congressman was in town....weird huh? Anyway, thanks to WF's Bravest for taking care of the scary Dayton Dumpster Fire!

I'd love another cinnamon roll!

2009-04-07T10:14:00.004-05:00

I am a morning person. In fact, I am one of those ANNOYING morning people who wakes up at 5am whistling. By 8 am, it is entirely possible that I have run a couple of miles, watered the garden, cleaned dishes, updated our budget information, and washed the car. Okay, that last one is a lie because I haven't washed my car since the month of January but the rest is possible. Well, my wife is not that much of a morning person. I'm pretty sure that she wants to slap me around half the time because I wake up and stomp around the house, clink dishes, and generally think the rest of the world should be awake with me (I don't do it intentionally but I can't help it...I get that from my dad!).

Why tell you that? To point out that while I may be a pretty disciplined person (keeping to a running schedule, taking care of the garden, getting up early to take care of whatever), I have no self-control when it comes to food (as opposed to my wife who has no problem saying no to good food). None. I am one of those people who doesn't eat to live...I live to eat. Self-control for me is refusing another spoonful of brownie a la mode because if one more bite enters my mouth I will literally throw up. Well, this occasionally rears its head when certain foods jump in front of me. Foods like Dark Chocolate M&Ms, any kind of chocolate cookie or cake, queso, finger foods, (you know what...pretty much any good food). Some may not think this a big deal (even if it may be somewhat unhealthy). I, however, think it's a huge deal.

Why? Personal conviction. The Lord has recently convicted me of this...self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and one that I MUST cultivate. Additionally, I am scared of becoming overweight (which is a two-edged sword...keeps me running and exercising). Therefore, I am saying right now that I am asking the Lord for help in this area of my life. He has to cultivate self-control (not only in food but also in all areas of life) in me.

One last thing...I had Kahlua Cake for breakfast this morning...and I'm pretty sure that I would eat it for every meal of the day if I could. Here's the recipe! You will love it I assure you!

We're in first!

2009-04-06T20:47:00.002-05:00

Well, it may not last long, but Texas is in sole possession of first place in the AL West...WAHOO!

It's time!

2009-04-06T11:16:00.002-05:00

Quick update because I'm at work--it is Opening Day and the Rangers' glorious 2009 season begins in less than two hours. It is entirely possible that Sarah and I will see over 10 games in person this year which would more than triple my previous season high.

Baseball's Opening Day has become my new favorite sports day of the year! Beginning of spring, optimism because the Rangers still have a chance to make the playoffs, warm weather around the corner (or here already), and lots to do in the garden! It's magical! :)

Migraines and things that cause them

2009-04-04T21:24:00.003-05:00

Sarah here. One thing I deal with on a monthly basis (usually) is awful migraines. Not just a bad headache, but a nausea-causing, shakes my whole body, can't move without crying, headache. Now, obviously, I try to take medicine before they get that bad, and actually, it's been a while since that happened. But not today.

My church help put together an event to help support the cause of Christian Women's Job Corp (CWJC) here in Wichita Falls. CWJC is an intense 10-week time of courses, just like college, only you are learning life skills, how to do a certain job, and many of other classes. They want these women who come through the programs to

develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually stronger. Over 300 women came to the Women's Tea, and it was really fun. I had invited Jim's grandmother to come with me since we had an extra seat at our table, and we had a great time. But, about 30 minutes into this two hour event, it hits me- that little nagging feeling in the front of my head- I'm getting a headache. I had no where to go to get medicine, no one had any at my table, and so it just got to build and build. That was around 2:30. When I finally got home at 5:00 (the event was over at 4:00, Grandmommy wanted to see our living room, and then I had to take her home and I visited for a while) I didn't want to do anything except get into a bad with a cold rag on my face and 3 advil inside me. After a bought with the trash can that Jim had brought me, I finally was able to lay still enough for long enough to fall asleep.

Here I am now, a little after 9, waking up, with a headache, but a manageable one. Usually it takes a couple of days for it to fully go away, but I'll take anything over this afternoon.

In other news, and to tell you about something that is probably being a pain in my neighbor's head, is an issue she has been having with her water. When we moved in, last October, if you pulled into our driveway, and got out on the driver's side, without pulling up directly in between the houses, you got out and stepped into a

muddy mess. Our neighbor, Kathy, is an older lady, who clearly had a leak. It wasn't until this past month that she got it fixed, and I think that was because a tree fell in her backyard, and I think messed up her water pipelines. She had to move out for a while while everything was fixed. Anyone, fortunately for us, the water dried up and it was awesome. No longer did I have to warn people about getting out and stepping into mud or feeling bad when I had forgotten to remind them and they ruined a good pair of shoes.

This past week, she told us they were going to be coming to dig a new trench to lay some new water lines. They did, and on a random side note, the guy that was digging it had parked in front of our house, and then lost his keys in all the dirt he had dug up. I felt so bad. He did eventually find them whenever they went back and filled it in. They dug the new trench, and finished everything up, and we woke up the next day (yesterday) to what: water, coming from her water hole. The city came out, and this is what I drove up to this afternoon after running some errands this morning.

Crazy- they have dug a HUGE whole with this HUGE tractor, and are draining water from it- it is literally projectioning out of the hole.

I hope they get everything fixed- I feel so bad that she has to deal with it and really has no control over the situation. And, I don't want to go back to a soggy drivers' side of my driveway either.

Random Thoughts

2009-04-03T08:57:00.005-05:00

I got to work a little late this morning, maybe like 5 minutes. That's because I didn't get out of bed to take a shower until 7:51. My plan last night was to get up at 6 to go work out at the gym, but that obviously did not happen. So, here I am at work, hair in a messy bun, still wet, with my Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers shirt on.

This semester, I have taken on two additional on the side jobs. One, is a one time only thing for this semester, and that is Video Editing. Through my time as an intern for Junior High here at First Baptist and as the Upward Sports Director, I had to learn how to take the footage that was recorded at an event, edit it, and make a video. Now, I'm not amazing at it, and it's not something I would want as a job right now, but I can do it. My Dad was assigned to film every girls soccer game for my alumni Rider High School (my step-sister is the starting goal keeper for Varsity) and he was going to use me to make the end of the year video. When it didn't work out, I wasn't crushed. But, he did send my name to the guys side of the program, and I will be producing their end of the year video. Kind of random, but I'm excited. The other job is something I've done before, and that is tutoring, specifically in math, for Junior High and Lower High School grades. Who couldn't use a little extra income?

Mission: Better Blogging

2009-04-02T21:38:00.002-05:00

Sarah here.

Some of you may not know (including my husband) that this isn't the first blog I've ever authored. I had one in high school, that I kept more as an online journal. It was through blogspot, and I think two people read it (I think I have 3 followers on this blog). Eventually, I copied everything off the blog, printed it out, and deleted the account and moved on to writing in a journal. I've always loved journaling, and always wished I did it more. I guess that makes me a sentimental person, but I like looking back and seeing where I've come from, and how I got through different things. I've always been the girl who keeps cards that people give me; according to Love Languages, mine is words of affirmation, so I just really appreciate those things, because I can look back and be encouraged. For example, as a gift for Jim, I had saved EVERY email and facebook correspondance that we had during the time we were getting to know each other before dating. I printed them all off, and scrapbooked an entire binder full of all of those notes in chronological order. (Random shout out: I can remember working on it at my high school soccer coach's house (I was house-sitting) with Cassidy. We made Taco Ring to eat, watched a Knight's Tale, and she helped me. Love you girl!)

So, when I started this blog, I wanted to be able to remember everything about buying a house and making it our home. While I think I've gotten the major things in, I don't get to post on this as often as I would like. There are few blogs I read EVERY DAY, and I just want to be like them, posting everyday with relevant things- I honestly feel like a Blogger Failure.

So, I'm on a mission to become a better blogger. Any advice is welcome.

Update on Life

2009-04-01T10:48:00.004-05:00

Sarah here, with a few updates from life at the Johnson's.

1) Janey Johnson is clearly letting us know that she is not happy to have a little sister. The past two nights she has decided that it would be fun to use the bathroom, both kinds, in the sunroom, that tilts off the back of our house at a small angle. This causes it to run down the grout lines covering the entire sunroom. The smell was overwhelming the past two nights- Jim mopped the floor entirely once, and I did again last night. I tried to convince myself that she was trying to get out, being that she was in the sunroom, which is where the back door is, but Jim was mad. If she did it again, she was going to have to sleep outside. Well, she woke us up this morning to go outside, and we were so proud of her! But, when Jim got up, she came in from being outside, and less than a minute later, peed right there.

2) The living room is coming together. It is finally starting to feel like my home and not just a house I live in. After being at a friend's house this past weekend, I was thinking to myself how peaceful and homey it was being there, and realized that not having that feeling at my house may be the cause of some of my negativity toward my house. Here is some updated pictures from two nights ago- there has been some more additions, but I'll wait to post some final pictures:

3) Today is April 1st. Crazy- March FLEW by! I'm so excited for Spring and Summer to get here. I don't like the cold! I prefer summer and spring! Summer for the lake, and spring for the thunderstorms. I have NOTHING to do at work today, so I'm extremely bored and tired. Before I signed on to post this blog, I was thinking about how I could just fall asleep right here.

Sarahology

2009-03-26T11:36:00.003-05:00

This was a note going around facebook. I have been done with my work for the week since Tuesday. So, I had some free time on my hands and thought I would jump in.
***********FOODOLOGY***************
What is your salad dressing of choice? Caeser
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Macaroni Grill
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? French Fries (I know, it's bad!)
What are your pizza toppings of choice? I prefer just cheese, but adding pepperoni isn't so bad!
What do you like to put on your toast? butter and grape jelly ***********TECHNOLOGY***************
How many televisions are in your house? 3
What color cell phone do you have?black
***************BIOLOGY******************
Are you right-handed or left-handed?right-handed
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Part of my hamstring to repair a torn ACL
What is the last heavy item you lifted? A box of work mugs for Amber to fill for guests to FBC
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Not completely; I did get a pretty bad concussion once and was very disoriented but not out cold
************SLAPDASHOLOGY**************
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Nope! I would always be paranoid!
If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I got to change my last name! I like my name, simple and plain.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Probably
How many pairs of flip flops do you own? Oh gosh, I'd have to go home and count!
Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Hmm- When Jim and I were dating, we were out on a country road talking, apparently in a place where drugs are a problem and we got stopped. The guy that we were up to no good and kept asking me if I was okay.
Last person you talked to? Samantha Jordan Pace sitting right across from me in my office.
Last person you hugged? Jimbo this morning before I left for work! **********FAVORITOLOGY****************
Season? Summer or Spring
Holiday? Christmas
Day of the week? Saturday
Month? April - Thunderstorms!
***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Missing someone? Not really... which might sound harsh.
Mood? Bored
Watching? No TVs at work, but I will watch the occasional YouTube video
Worrying about? Nothing currently- but that can change pretty quickly
***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************
First place you went this morning? Kitchen to get some cereal
What's the last movie you saw? Driving on our Spring Break, I listened to Beverly Hills Chihuahua
You smile often? I try!
Sleeping Alone Tonight? Nope!
***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************
Do you always answer your phone? Nope
Its four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? Someone under the age of 16
If you could change your eye color what would it be? I like my eye-color
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? Cherry
Do you own a digital camera? Yes; but a new and better one is on the wishlist!
Have you ever had a pet fish? Yeah! And I can remember flushing them when they died.
What is your favorite Christmas song?12 Days of Christmas, Relient K version or O Holy Night.
What's on your wish list for your birthday? Stuff for my house!
Can you do push ups? a couple
Can you do a chin up? Maybe 1
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? A little of both!
Do you have any saved texts? I keep them to remind me about things to do!
Ever been in a car wreck? Yeah
Do you have an accent? Probably more noticeable when I leave this area
What is the last song to make you cry? Don't really remember
Plans tonight? Hitting with Jim and painting my living room!
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Definitely!
Name 3 things you bought yesterday: New bra from Victoria's Secret, Shampoo from Bath and Body Works, Sweet tea from sonic
Have you ever been given roses? Yes; my husband loves to give me them and he knows Yellow is my favorit!
Current hate right now? school! I just want to be done!
Have you ever met someone who changed your life? Jesus Christ
What song represents you? Sarah SMILE!
Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? I don't know. Would like to go back to "simpler times" but they had their troubles too.
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? Yes
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? I have pierced ears!
Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now? Yes! Praise God!
What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever is in my head!
Ever had someone sing to you? yeah.
When did you last cry? Don't remember
Do you like to cuddle? With my hubby and puppies! Or my sweet little siblings!
Have you held hands with anyone today? not today!
Who was the last person you took a picture of? My step sister. She shaved her head for cancer research.
What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? I don't even remember!
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? A little of both!
Do you like pulpy orange juice? Yes! That's all we buy!
What is something your friends make fun of you for? Not being girly or being dramatic.

Hi/Lo Thursday

2009-03-26T11:15:00.003-05:00

Sarah here. This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

Hi's:

Things at the house are coming along, slowly, but surely. I'm trying hard not to be too uptight about it, but it's a really hard thing for me to do. I just keep telling myself that I would rather it be done right and slow, than fast and sloppy. I have had only one dr. pepper since Monday. This is monumental for me, seeing as the week before I was having two or three a day. I've converted to sweet tea. Not really sure if it is any better for me. Lastly, this week, I've been driving my mom's red convertible miata around. I feel like a movie star! Also, I'm doing extremely well in my two classes at MSU.

Lo's:

While painting is going on, the rest of the house has been put on the back burner. I hate when my house is a mess. I know it's a pride thing. But when my home is a mess, I just feel like my entire life is. The other thing is that potty training with sweet Josie isn't going to well. She is constantly sneaking off and going in the floor. I guess, at least, she goes in the same place.

Spring Break Trip Day #2 and #3

2009-03-24T20:52:00.003-05:00

Spring Break Day #2 was so fun!! We got up took showers and headed to the park in their neighborhood. We hung out, played on the merry-go-round, chalked it up, and took some pictures, thanks to my aunt Joy! Next, we drove an hour south to Crystal Beach. In this area, the sea came onland 17 miles, obviously destroying everything in its path during Hurricane Ike. It felt very weird to be there, and see with my eyes the destruction that was caused. I fell asleep and got really sunburned, and am now starting to peel on my face. BUMMER! Oh well, it was really fun and really worth it! We ended the day by eating at a Cajun restaurant that was VERY yummy! The drive home, although not as eventful as the drive there, was still long. Zach nearly drove everyone crazy, but no one threw up so I consider it a great trip! Here are just a few pictures here!

When we returned, we met my family at Parkway for my Dad's Birthday! He turned 47! I got to see my family and it was fun eating dinner with them and not having to cook after a long day of driving. Big thanks to Sherrie for staying at our house and taking care of our sweet puppies!

Spring Break Day #1

2009-03-21T11:19:00.008-05:00

Sarah here. For our spring break "vacation," we traveled with my family to visit my aunt and uncle who live in Lumberton, Texas. My aunt Joy is a photographer and my uncle Chris is the manager of a television station in Beaumont (about an hour north of Houston). They have three awesome kids, Jason who is 13, Walter, who is 11, and Ellie who is 8. They have a beautiful house in Lumberton (about 15 minutes from Beaumont) that they moved into last year right before Hurricane Ike hit. They had lived in Midland, Tx, but got transferred from there to Beaumont because of Chris' job.

All of day 1 consisted mostly of traveling. We left Wichita Falls at 8 am. We had a three car caravan: Jim and I in my car with my little sister Lexie and little brother Josh, my Mom's van with her driving, and the rest of the little kids (Zach, Alijah, and Charlie) and my aunt and uncle bringing up the rear in her car with my sister and her boyfriend Gary riding. It took us a total of eight hours to make the trip.

You expect a trip to be a little longer because of the kids, but we had no idea what we were in for. Not even two hours into the trip, this is what I hear from the back seat:

Lexie: Ohhhhh SSSIIIICCCKKK!

Josh: crying

Sarah and/or Jim: What happened?

Lexie: I thought he sneezed, but he frowed (throwed said without front teeth) up.

Disgusting smells overtake my car immediately. I quickly take the next exit, with everyone following/wondering what was going on. Sweet Joshua is crying because he feels bad for making a mess, and feels bad, period. We get everything taken care of, cleaned up, changed clothes, and got back on the road. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's in Corsicana. Of course the kids wanted to play so we stayed a little longer. Also, at this point, Jim downloaded Oregon Trail on my iPhone. It is awesome....totally worth $6.

The next couple of hours of the trip were pretty uneventful. Joshua kept saying in his cute little voice, "Where are we go-wing?" or "Are we the-were yet?" or "Go faster Sawah."

Woodville is where we were making our turn to head south again for Lumberton. We were at a stoplight, first in line, when a motorcycle is coming across in front of us, making a turn. Mid intersection, this little (or not so much little- he was a little fluffy) old man hits a slick patch in the road and tumbles off his bike. It was very scary to watch. I threw my gear in park, jumped out of my car, waved my mom and aunt in (who are both RNs) and run to the man. He had blood running down his head, stuff running out of his bike, and he was yelling at me to get him out of the road. I thought he was just embarrassed and stubborn, but it turns out that he had some unpaid tickets, didn't have a motorcycle driving license, and no insurance. Anyways, we pulled him up and got him to the side of the road, got his bike out of the middle of the road, and called 911. We pulled our cars into the McDonald's parking lot only to be blocked in by cop cars for about 20 minutes. I didn't think we were ever going go to get there.

But we did finally arrive. We ate the most delicious meal, hung out, and then went to bed. I was so ready for it!

Painting Continued

2009-03-17T08:29:00.002-05:00

Last night, we continued painting. Here is what we accomplished.

We also go to go hang out at one of my very best friend's houses last night. Emily Fulcher was in town, so we went to her Mom's house and had tea, the best carrot cheesecake ever, some fruit salad, and got to play with her adorable little Kai. I love it when my friends get to come back home and we get to hang out. I miss them! Cassidy was in town last week, and we got to have a good, although short, hang out!

Weekend Doings

2009-03-16T12:11:00.007-05:00

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of my two sweet girls hanging out with us for restful afternoon on the bed.

Aren't they precious?

________________________________________________

In other news around the house on Dayton, we started painting our living room. Here is what we accomplished yesterday evening.

Jim painted the fireplace and I painted the walls. This was Jim's first time painting, so he didn't want to get to walls just yet! Didn't he do a great job? Our plan is to put a candlescape inside the fireplace (it's not an actual working fireplace) and all the trim will be a cream color to lighten things up. You can see a hint of it on the window frame to the left of the fireplace.

A New Addition

2009-03-14T21:07:00.002-05:00

This week, another Johnson was added to the family.

Meet Josie Johnson. She is almost six months old (will be March 19th) and is a miniature schnauzer. She comes as a gift from my Mom, who knew we wanted a schnauzer. Her and Janey get along great, like two sister's would. She is a big snuggler, especially with her mom, and doesn't potty outside on a regular basis, which makes her dad very angry.

Issues

2009-03-08T13:31:00.006-05:00

Sarah here. There have been two major issues this weekend; one has been on-going, and is actually just getting fixed this weekend, which motivated me to blog about it.

I'll begin with the toilet. Here is what happens when you flush the toilet.

Our little fountain right in our own home. Thankfully, Jim's dad works with plumbing equipment and is able to help us get it fixed! Thanks, Mike!

The other issue this weekend was my back. I have this spot in the middle of my lower back that starts hurting, and pretty much paralyzes me with pain when it does. It's hurt really bad one other time before, when I was putting together our kitchen island. I was out for the rest of the evening and most of the next day. Heating pad and advil were the cure. Yesterday, in my indoor soccer game, we only had three players show up, against five, and it didn't work out for us. It was a really good team, and only having three players gave me a good workout. First, I had to block a shot with the inside of my knee; an hour later, I still had a bruise, and it hasn't gone away yet, even a day later. If you look closely, you can see the imprint of the ball on my leg. OUCH!

Then, a girl who wasn't very good (not that I am some superstar) missed the ball and kicked my leg, which twisted me around and something pulled in that spot in my back. I've been out since 6 pm yesterday. Still not better, but on my way. Maybe I am getting old...

Recap of the Week

2009-03-06T15:55:00.002-06:00

Sarah here. I've been mostly absent from the blogging world because of Disciple Now. For those of you who don't know why this would keep me busy, let me enlighten you. I (and another administrative assistant, Samantha) were in charge of getting together a weekend for our 7th-12th grade students in the area. This included finding people to open up their homes to host 8-12 students at their houses, finding co-hosts who would come along side them to help out, Bible Study leaders who would also be in the homes, teaching 5 sessions, writing one of the lessons, getting all necessary paperwork and bills done, budgeting, ordering, re-ordering, keeping up with who has paid what and when, who has registered, assigning kids to homes (which is a large task because people go crazy if you don't put them with their friends) and then orchestrating anything I've left out. We hosted just at 300 students so it's a big undertaking. It was this past weekend, and it was incredibly successful.

So this week has been my refresh from Disciple Now week. I had to catch up on homework, housecleaning, and sleep. All (for the most part) has been accomplished.

I'm continuing to work out and counting calories to try and lose weight. Most days its okay, but I had no idea it would be so hard to count calories. It's easy when you eat something pre-packaged, like yogurt or a lean cuisine, but Jim made delicious chicken georgia last week, and you just have to guesstimate. This is really hard for me, because I am person of exacts. Don't give me round about answers or instructions- tell me what you want done and exactly how you want it done and I'll do it. Also, I am still hanging on to my Dr. Pepper, just in moderation.

School is an incredible disappointing, discouraging, and depressing point in my life right now. I have now dropped two classes this semester (down to two classes, one online) which dropped me below half time (because the online class is only two credit hours, not three) and my school loans were canceled. Financial Aid is so confusing! I had to sit with a counselor, as she explained the consequences of my decision, and laid everything out. Nothing major is going to happen, but I felt like a little kid in that office.

Because of working full time, online classes are preferred so I don't have to be gone from work so much. However, not a lot of upper sociology/pyschology classes are offered online at MSU. I started looking around the internet for online programs, but I'm so close to being finished that Jim's advice was to stay at MSU, take one, maybe two classes a semester, and be done. I have 6 classes left to take. I just want to be done already.

At this point, I'm just negating the need for a degree. My plans sort of changed once I got married and once I started to realize the importance and desire I have to stay home with my children. I started out in sociology because it was interesting to me and was the study of people and societies. I was going to be going into the ministry and after graduating, was going to head to seminary. The Upward position I held taught me a lot about minsitry and myself, and I learned that I didn't want to be the in-front person of any minstry. I couldn't handle dealing with people; turns out, just like learning about them. I would still like to go to seminary some day, but it's not in the near future.

Just let me take the stairs!

2009-03-06T14:43:00.003-06:00

It's FRIDAY!!! This weekend is not going to be all that spectacular (especially after last weekend's Disciple Now festivities) but I will get to spend a ton of time outside in particularly awesome weather working in my yard/garden and running. There's only one thing that could make this weekend better and that would be Rangers baseball. Unfortunately, the Rangers' opener is exactly one month away so Spring Training and Sony Playstation baseball will have to continue to fill the void.

Let me say that I love my job and I love the office building we inhabit. First of all, there are only four of us in the office so a lot of the weird "corporate America" things that a lot of our friends experience in bigger operations don't really apply. Additionally, I have a great view from my 5th floor office. Granted, there aren't a whole lot of "great views" in Wichita Falls but I have one of the better ones. One of my co-workers also happens to be a great cook and constantly brings good food to work to share with us. However, there is one aspect to our building that annoys the heck out of me: you cannot take the stairs! For some reason you cannot enter any floor from the stairwell and you can only exit out of the bottom floor to the outside. What this means is that you may use the stairs to exit the building in case of an emergency or if you happen to be leaving the building but you cannot go up the stairs to get to your floor or use the stairs to travel between floors.

Why? I don't know. I have heard that it is for security reasons. Security from what?! Fire safety? Having worked as an RA in a 12-floor dorm for two years and knowing that 1100 college students (a portion of whom are too intoxicated or stupid to accomplish basic tasks such as dressing appropriately, getting out of bed, or not getting kicked out of school) are entrusted with leaving fire doors shut, surely a professional building can handle it as well. I'm asking all of you...what reasons can you think of that might remotely explain this situation?

Haven't we been hearing for years that taking the stairs is healthier for us (it is)? Wouldn't it be less of a strain on the building's elevator systems to allow us to take the stairs? I don't get it...

Run you idiot!

2009-03-03T15:32:00.002-06:00

Jim here with profuse apologies for not posting in the last week.

No, the subject line is not my formal announcement to run for public office in 2010 but the public acknowledgement that I have been thoroughly inspired to train for and run a marathon before the end of the year.

Let me explain. As some of you are aware, I have run in the past and continue to do so on an on-again, off-again basis. Honestly, I enjoy it. I feel better when I get to run (physically and mentally) and I love setting a goal and accomplishing it. However, I do not enjoy being cold...at all. And the thought of going outside at 5:30 in the morning in January gives me chills even now. However, no more excuses. It's March and the weather is, in a word, FANTASTIC!

Why the inspiration to do this now? Well, that comes from two sources really. Number one, my uncle who lives in the Austin, TX area recently completed his first marathon and he ran it under 4 hours! That is impressive and listening to him talk about it after he finished the race in February really made me want to get out and do it too. As if that weren't enough to convince me that this is something I need to do, something happened on last week's Biggest Loser that completely pushed me over the edge. If you're not a fan of the show (or my friend Chelsea's blog), the gentleman who got booted from the show last week weighed almost 400 pounds within the last 6 months. He lost a substantial amount of weight before getting booted and then proceeded to run a marathon with his wife. After the episode ended last week, I looked at Sarah and said "If Dane can run a marathon, I can definitely do it!"

So, here I am, saying that my training has begun. The plan is to build up to a 10K in the summer, a half-marathon in the fall, and running the marathon in Austin next February. I'm having to start slowly again because all of the endurance I had built up prior to the job change and buying a home in October has disappeared over the winter. However, I'm here and, with the Lord's help, I will do it!

Disappointments and Surprises

2009-02-20T15:12:00.004-06:00

Sarah here. I have a disappointment and a surprise to tell you. Bad news first...

I joined Breland Health and Fitness club here in town so that I could keep my new year resolution and lose about 20 lbs and and 10% of my body fat. (And that's the weight/fat I need to lose to be healthy; I'm not just freaking out about being skinny.) I joined on January 28th and have worked out at least three times a week (if not four or five most weeks) and yesterday, I weighed and did the body fat analyzer. Results: I have lost 1.4 lbs (not bad, but not great) and gained .5% body fat. SERIOUSLY? How does that happen? Jim encouraged me to keep working out, so we'll just see what happens. I'm trying to avoid giving up Dr. Pepper completely, but it may come down to that. Bummer...

Good news...On Valentine's day, Jim took me to the AT&T store to get an iPhone. The deal was that when we paid off my credit card, I could get an iPhone. Well, we were able to do that with our tax refund. When we got to the store, I was so disappointed. I was going to have to wait till May 13th because of upgrade options to save $200. I was so let down. I had been waitnig so long for it. But, I was going to have to put my big girl pants on and get over it, and I did. Thursday morning, we had an all staff meeting at church. Our Pastor went before us to let us know that everyone was receiving a bonus because our church had been so blessed this past year. Praise God for His blessings! Not just because I get to take part in it, but to be out of debt, and still growing, is just such a blessing for a church body. Because of that, though, without me asking, Jim said that I could go purchase my iPhone as long as I saved the other half. YES! I was so excited!

I love the phone. It's just so smart and it syncs with my laptop. I love things that help me stay organized, and so I'm really really excited and grateful to be an iPhone owner.

Busyness is of the Devil

2009-02-17T22:28:00.002-06:00

Well, life has continued to keep my busy. Since Sunday night, we have been baby/house sitting for the Frank's (we LOVE their family). Everything has gone super well, but all of the sudden having three kids keeps you busy. Getting these (we do this for them often) small tastes of motherhood are a couple of things for me: (1) I have much more respect for all the Mom's out there, especially those who work and mother, and most importantly my Mom who does this on a weekly basis with eight kids (well six who still actually live there). (2) I really hope and pray that it works out for me to be able to stay at home with my kids. Jim and I have considered homeschooling, but not looked thoroughly into it. Even if we don't, though, I still hope I can be a stay at home Mom. I love driving around in the suburban running kids back and forth.

School continues to be school. I took my first test this morning, and it didn't go so well. Actually, my whole day didn't go so well, and yes, I'm going to tell you about it right now. This morning, I woke up at 6:15 and was extremely tired! (I haven't been getting to bed before my usual 9:00 pm bedtime- yes, I know I'm old. But see, I'm savoring this now BEFORE I have kids because I see that it won't happen!) I was in charge of taking Sydney to Rider and then I was going to go sit in the MSU parking lot until 8, which is when my statistics test was. Well, I'm in the Frank's suburban, and so I had turned the car off, and was studying. At 7:55, I get out, hit the lock button on the door, and shut it. I walked about halfway across the parking lot before realizing that the keys to the suburban were in my purse, which is now safely locked inside the car! DANG IT! I won't bother you with the unnecessary details, but it got unlocked by an MSU police officer for free, so that was a super duper blessing. Being worried about the keys, and somewhat anxious for my test, I started feeling really bad in class. I tried to psych myself out of it, but it just wasn't happening. I had to go to the bathroom. I got up and asked my professor (who knows of my condition) and he said it was fine this time but from now on, I was going to have to take my tests with disability support services. MAN, that was a hit on the heart- DISABILITY? I hurried through my test (which got me a disappointing 70), still feeling sick, and when I got up to turn it in, he tried to comfort me by telling me that it wasn't that he didn't trust me (because cheating goes on in the bathroom apparently!?) but that he just couldn't have it; I totally understood, but man. Disability... the word rang in my head all day.

Work today for me was a day of learning. I don't think I did ONE thing right the first time. Everyone was patient with me, and I learned a lot, but it just wasn't a good day.

Tonight, while at Wal Mart, I was putting the groceries in my car, and this couple pulls up next to me in a car. They proceed to tell me that they are from Denton, had been in Lawton for a funeral, and now needed to get back to Denton, but only had three dollars. Of course, they want money. Now, mercy is my spiritual gift, so I'll probably always give them something (like $6 bucks that I gave them tonight) but I always wonder, are these people telling the truth? I wonder what their real story is. How humbling is it to drive up to someone and ask them for money? Surely you would need it pretty bad to do that? Or, are they seriously just conning people out of money? I'll never know, but "some have entertained angels without even knowing it" and "whatever you do to the least of these you do to me" is in my head, so I think I can spare $6 bucks. What about you?

New Blogs

2009-02-14T10:45:00.003-06:00

Sarah here. I've created two new blogs. I know you are thinking, "Sarah, you don't even have time to post daily on the one you have. Why have you done 2 more?" Well, I think it is a great idea, but Jim seems to think there is a better way. To me it is the greenest and easiest way to keep up with the things.

I have tried to keep up with recipes and Bible lessons for years. There was just no way to file them the way that I wanted to. But, since the blog has the labels, you can file them that way. So, if we have chicken to cook, I can look under the label "chicken" and find what to cook. Also, there are lots of times when I need a specific verse study or topical study and can't find that one lesson I knew I had, I can use the labels.

So if you are interested to know what we are eating at the Johnson's or what Sarah is studying feel free to visit this blog for the recipes and this blog for the Scripture studies.

Janey's Favorite Toy

2009-02-13T20:45:00.003-06:00

Sarah here, posting my first video to the blog. When we dog sat in January, we put an old plastic bowl (that I think actually belonged to my Mom) outside with water in it so both dogs would have enough. Well, it turns out, that Janey loves to play with it. I could sit out there for hours and watch her chase this thing around. Maybe you will find it as funny as we do!

Small things...

2009-02-13T14:27:00.003-06:00

Jim here, first things first. Most of you know that I grew up in a Southern Baptist Convention church and it was a great church to grow up in. Jesus brought me to Himself and helped me grow in my faith there. Well, Baptist youth groups are interesting places. I say this for a lot of reasons but especially because I remember there being a trend my sophomore or junior year where guys and girls began writing down lists of traits he/she wanted in his/her spouse. I remember meeting students from all sorts of faith and denomination backgrounds at OU and I don't think I ever met someone who had done this list-making thing who wasn't from a Baptist youth group. I could be wrong though.

Anyway, I actually never did this but I thought about it a lot. And, it's funny, Sarah is the perfect woman for me for a lot of reasons. It's a lot of the small things that no list made in high school could have captured which causes me to so completely dig my wife.

For example, when trying to come up with something romantic to do for Valentine's Day...I came up with the following. I am giving her a certificate for a pedicure (she REALLY wanted that). However, we are also driving down to Southlake (it's in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) to eat lunch at Cheesecake Factory. However, that is all secondary to the main reason we are traveling there...in Southlake lies Sarah's favorite store on the face of the earth...The Container Store. Yes, for Valentine's Day, I will be taking my wife on a small shopping spree at The Container Store. And, you know what, she is PUMPED!

Never in a million years would I have put on a list: "Organized...so organized that going shopping at The Container Store is equivalent to shopping at Neiman's for most girls."

Let there be dirt!

2009-02-12T10:46:00.002-06:00

Jim here, I was off on Monday so that I could do some much needed garden preparation. Just so you know, I have zero skills when it comes to building things or rigging up workable contraptions...I had no access to it growing up and just never learned how to do any construction or repair stuff. However, I have somewhat gotten over my fear of messing up so I will at least try to do things now. I had to put up a fence around the area where I'll be growing veggies and fruit because Janey loves to go produce shopping. In fact, if this gate were not here, she would have already eaten the pea seeds which are planted as well as the blackberry plant I have started. I took away half of her back yard area but it will be worth it if Sarah and I can have our own supply of good food. Not to mention, I am LOVING this gardening stuff. It is still too early to plant most items (grapes, blackberries, and peas are the exceptions right now) but I have a thriving greenhouse going in our sun room at the back of the house. My wife is fantastic for letting me have free reign in the yard and sun room to try my hand at growing!

In the Doghouse

2009-02-04T08:52:00.005-06:00

Janey is in the doghouse. This week, Jim came home at lunch and she had had her way with the house. In the mornings, it is still pretty chilly here so we don't want to put her outside just yet. Usually, we shut the door that leads from the living room into the back part of the house and shut the door that goes from the dining room into the kitchen. She has the living room and dining room to play and look out all the windows, plus her favorite chair. And for the past 2 months or so, it has been the perfect situation. She stays in those front rooms until lunch when Jim comes home and lets her outside.

Apparently, she has gotten bored with that.

When Jim came home this week, Janey had discovered that she could push the swinging door open between the dining room and kitchen. The first stop was the trash can, one of her favorite things to eat. Then she had a little fun with my crocs, got into the bathroom trash can, and then made her way to the sunroom.

She has already torn up a chair in the sunroom (dug into the arm). That chair is right next to the table that is holding Jim's plants. She proceeds to get onto the table, apparently, eat three pots of plants and half a bag of soil. WHAT A MESS! For dessert, she heads back into the dining room, and eats 4 candles.

Later on that night, she did her business on the bath mat again! This is like the 10th time I've had to wash this bath mat, so we decide to throw it out. So, last night at Wal Mart, we got a brand new one! We got home about 9 pm, and Jim started cooking him some dinner (I wasn't hungry) and I started watching TV. An hour later, I go into the bathroom, and you will not believe it: she had pooped on the NEW BATH MAT! SERIOUSLY?

I don't know what we are going to do!

Things That Bother Me

2009-01-31T12:01:00.005-06:00

Sarah here, again. Last night, some house guests we had over got somewhat irritated at me for saying that I "hate my house." The truth is I don't hate our house. Our house has some great bones, lots of charming character, and it's not a cookie cutter house (where it looks like every other one on the block). However, at least I think like every wife/homeowner is, there are things that I don't like about the house. So today, I'm going to share one of those things, and see if you have any ideas on how to help me get it done.

This is a picture of a corner in our sunroom. It drives me crazy. I don't know how to get it cleaned. This morning, I got me a bucket of hot, soapy water, a new sponge, and took after it. But it didn't really work. I really wish I could just bring a power washer in and just spray the whole thing down, but I don't think that's plausible. Take a closer look:

I know! It's disgusting- I can't believe this is a picture of something in my house. Any ideas?

Back in business...

2009-01-31T10:40:00.002-06:00

Sarah here!

I got to sleep in this morning, and when I woke up around 930, Jim came in and said he had something to apologize for. I got really worried; what had he done? Wrecked my car into the gate? Deleted a TV show I had recorded and really wanted to watch? No, he had just deleted the background off the blog. NO BIG DEAL!

So, we are back up and running, a little toned down this time, with some new and updated pictures. The picture of Jim and I is from our Christmas Eve service at our church. The church rented snow making machines so that when you came outside, it was snowing. A fun thought...

The picture of Janey is from January 27th, our big ice day. She was being super cute, and so I had to snap a picture. Such a good girl!

That Ugly Background

2009-01-31T08:37:00.002-06:00

In case you are wondering why this formerly beautiful page is now an ugly sheet of light blue...well, I was playing around with the settings tab and managed to delete the background that Sarah had for the blog (and I don't know where she retrieved it from originally)! So, until she wakes up...it is going to be ugly. My apologies to everyone--especially my wife!

Breakfast in Bed

2009-01-30T11:52:00.002-06:00

Jim here--just wanted everyone to know that I am not sitting at home in bed eating french toast while my lovely wife goes and works out at 6am. I HATE working out indoors...especially running (weights are okay but I hate them as a matter of principle...as you can probably tell by looking at my physique). So, when she leaves to go to the gym, I put on 32 layers of clothing and go run in 15 degree weather. And, you know what, it's invigorating! I have no problem waking up I can assure you.

Also, please allow me to say that there is nothing worse as a husband than being unable to help your wife when she's sick. And I feel like I'm making it worse when I try to sympathize because, well, I can't really sympathize.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

2009-01-30T10:16:00.002-06:00

Sarah here (I'm identify myself from a previous suggestion by a good friend). Jim sent this article out yesterday, so you may have already read it. After reading it, and simply because we are trying to be healthier people (hence, my recent joining of a local health club here in town, where I have been working out at the break of dawn every morning) we are going to do our best, living in Wichita Falls, to eliminate HFCS from our home. Some things I've discovered that HFCS: Dr. Pepper (that's going to be a toughie to give up), Frosted Flakes, and coke, of course.

Brutally Honest About....

2009-01-30T08:08:00.001-06:00

Today makes two full weeks that I have gotten up before 6 in the morning and today was day 2 of being at the gym at 6 am to work out with Justin and Amber. However, yesterday I learned that you, or rather I, with all of my tummy issues, should not drink a glass of orange juice because it is too acidic for me to work out on. The plan is to do 30 minutes on the elliptical and then lift weights. Yesterday, I got to almost 30 minutes and all of the sudden, it hit me. I had to make a run for the bathroom. I had so little time, that I couldn't even find the light and had to wait until Amber came in there to turn on lights for me. I felt so bad, all of the sudden. Had an awful tummy ache and just wanted to go home and go back to sleep. After a second trip, I finished up my workout, and headed home, only to sit in our bathroom for another 30 minutes at least. I missed class that day, and just felt crummy.

Today, though, I just didn't eat breakfast before going to work out. I felt fine and didn't have to make any emergency trips to the bathroom, but I definitely could tell that my body was a little less energized. I'll pick being a little less energized over pooping my brains out- it seems to be the lesser of the two evils.

Lots of Catching Up To Do...

2009-01-28T10:13:00.003-06:00

Because there is so much to catch up on, I find that the only way to do this in any orderly fashion is to do it in sections.

Work: I am loving my job, and Jim is loving his. We are fully into Disciple Now season and things are going to get busy. Our theme this year is Awaken, and I feel that this will be the best one yet. We are focusing on our culture, and how it relates to our students.

Ice Days: Tuesday, I awoke at 6 am to check closings. We were expec

ting ice to accumulate, but here in North Texas, you can never truly trust a forecast until the day gets here. I got on the MSU website and was excited to find out that school was canceled. And since WFISD

was canceled, I didn't have to be at work until 10. However, I received a text message around 830 letting me know that the church was officially closed and I had a day off to enjoy. Jim, well, his boss told him not to come in either. We turned it in to a really productive day, getting the house cleaned, laundry done, and I worked on homework. The only time we got out was to go to my mom's house to help my sister watch the kids and feed them dinner. The roads were definitely dangerous, but if you went slow, you were fine.

Janey: Janey hasn't known what to do with all this weird weather. She wet in the house, on the bath mat, of course, and while we were gone, proceeded to eat a plastic bag of 2 M&M's packages, a bag of skittles, and a package of starbursts, wrappers and all. I was so worried that she would die (because I've always heard that when dogs eat chocolate they die) but it turned out that all she had was a lot of bad, loud gas, all night long.

Call To Die: Jim and I are doing a devotional together called "A Call To Die" by David Nasser. Basically, we had to "die" to something for 40 days. I gave up Facebook, and he gave up watching TV by himself. So far, the important points have been: 1) Jesus' commitment to obey the Father was greater than His desire for approval and comfort. 2) Because Satan is not gentle in dealing with us, we cannot be gentle in dealing with him. 3) Our "entertain me" culture has made us spiritually soft and emotionally mushy. We expect things to come to us too easily. Any thoughts?

My Dumb Assignment: I am in a class called Personal Relations and Interactions. We had this assignment that I just really hated doing. We were "encouraged to take an active role in my education this semester." I had to develop my own learning objective based on Fink's Model of learning and then prove how I was going to measure my success in attaining them and prove it on each test in order to get the curve. Ridiculous. Did you ever have an assignment that you thought was just pointless?

Baseball in January

2009-01-21T21:47:00.002-06:00

Sarah and I are settling in for bed right now (who am I kidding...she's been asleep for 30 minutes) and, as part of our normal bedtime tradition, I turned on the Texas Rangers game radio broadcast. Yes, baseball doesn't start again for another 2 months...we are listening to an archived game through MLB.com from May 6, 2008. There is just something about a baseball game on the radio that is relaxing and comforting; we both sleep better when we fall asleep to the Rangers...and I am well aware how weird it is to listen to a baseball game that is over 6 months old.

Are there any weird daily habits you've developed that people on the outside would think are goofy but which serve you well?

I have become a gardener!

2009-01-21T15:59:00.003-06:00

As Sarah alluded to in her last post, she now has dirt in her sun room--on purpose. After spending the last 4 months looking forward to finally being able to grow something...it has arrived! I think this is going to be my major hobby going forward and I cannot wait for warmer weather so I can really get my hands (and knees) dirty outside!

Anyway, I started seeds indoors on Monday night for a few different veggies: artichokes, brussel sprouts, collard greens, onions, leeks, kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage, and alpine strawberries (the lone fruit of the bunch). Some of these veggies will be ready to transplant outside in as little as 4 weeks while others (notably the strawberries) will have to stay indoors until the last frost of spring. The next two months will be spent growing some other stuff indoors, planting some seeds outdoors, and transplanting from indoors to outdoors...and I couldn't be more excited. This is my first time to try my hand at gardening and I expect a tough go while I figure things out. My goal is this: to be able to buy no produce from the supermarket from May through October of this year. I don't know if I can succeed but I am going to try.

When I tell people that I'm trying to grow a garden that will allow us a measure of self-suffiency in where we get a good portion of our food, they generally have one of two responses. They laugh and chalk it up to my eccentricity or they look at me like I'm a crazy man! I was inspired to do this for a handful of reasons:

1) I believe that the way Americans get most of their food is short-sighted, harmful to the environment, harmful to the people who eat it, and results in food that is, quite frankly, not that tasty.

2) If there were to be a huge shock to our supply system and gasoline went up to something over $5 a gallon, I would like to know that the cost of my produce was not going to go through the roof. As oil gets more expensive in the future, normal people will no longer be able to afford fruit and vegetables shipped from halfway around the world. Also, I don't think it's environmentally sound to use who knows how many gallons of oil/gasoline to ship food from far off places.

3) Fresh produce simply TASTES better! 'Nuff said...

4) There's something inherently good about growing your own food and all of the patience and hard work involved. And, honestly, I think it will draw me closer to the Lord being reliant on him for the harvest.

Pictures will be forthcoming...

School Begins

2009-01-20T06:44:00.004-06:00

Today is the first day of an incredibly busy semester. School starts today. When you add going to school full time and working full time, well, my time is going to be really full. Today is also the start of my last year in college. I have eight classes left to take, including the four I am enrolled in this semester. I'm definitely one of those people who is always looking forward to the next big thing, and although I'm not proud of that most of the time, I get through these really busy times knowing that someday, I'll graduate, and get to have a "normal" life, not worrying about housework and homework. I give major props to my Mom who graduated last May from TCU with her Masters in Nursing, all the time raising eight kids, dealing with a really sick husband, and working full time. I don't know how she does it, and honestly, I'm not sure if I do.

I also wanted to mention that my Step Dad is doing really well. Thanks for your prayers. It was a very risky surgery, and he came through with flying colors. Praise God!

January so far at the Johnson's

2009-01-18T21:20:00.003-06:00

Life has been crazy busy since we got back from DC. I started my new job as the Administrative Assistant to the Junior High and College ministers at my church. Jim got ALL of his seeds in, and there are a LOT, and is busy making plans on planting. They, unfortunately, have to start out in my house in these trays on a card table. I'm not really excited about it, but the rest of my house is a mess so why not add some dirt trays.

Tuesday, I start school, so I'm anxious to see how my schedule is going to be.

Today, I played my first indoor soccer game and quickly realized how out of shape I am. We won, so that's good, but my step-sister roller her ankle so that is not good. Hope she gets better!

Tomorrow (and I realize I have laid these things out in the complete wrong order) my step dad is having major hip replacement surgery. There is a good chance he may not make it through....keep him in your prayers.

Washington DC: Day 3,4,5

2009-01-13T09:44:00.004-06:00

When Jim got off from all of his meetings, we went on a search for something to eat. Actually, we first walked over to the White House to see it (we were only two blocks away) and it was really fun to see it at night, but then, not good for pictures. We had gotten recommendations from people who actually lived in DC on good places to eat, but it was bitter cold, and we wanted something close. We settled on an Italian country Kitchen called Finemundo's (and I have no idea if I am spelling that correctly). It was really good and really expensive! Thanks to my Mom for helping us out and paying for that dinner.

After eating, we walked to Border's Bookstore near our hotel and Jim got him a new book. I had already been there earlier that day and purchased my book. Then we went back to the hotel, watched NFL playoff games, and went to bed.

Saturday, we slept in and then walked on the National Mall. We saw the Lincoln memorial, the Korean war memorial, the WWII memorial, the Washington Memorial, and then headed to some of the Smithsonian Museums. We went to the American History and Air and Space museums. Jim was really excited about seeing them, and I wasn't as excited as he was because I didn't feel good and it was cold. We did see an IMAX movie which was neat, and then headed back to the hotel to warm up. On the way home, it started raining. What an ending. For dinner, we decided to pick something up and bring it back to the hotel, and ate delicious sandwiches from Potbelly Sandwiches. We watched some more football, then went to bed.

Sunday, we slept in again, and packed everything up. While we were packing, we saw a parade on Pennsylvania avenue; we had no idea what was going on, especially since it was a Sunday morning, but it was fun to see from our hotel window. We left about 11 to go eat lunch at the Corner Bakery and then made our way to the airport. We met a photographer on the Subway who had been at the parade. Turns out that it was the practice inaugural parade. She was taking pictures, because it was definitely going to be easier when there weren't millions of people there watching. We made it to the airport, and our plan was delayed about an hour and got home safely!

For me, it was a very relaxing vacation. I hope we can go back in the spring time when all the cherry blossoms are blooming.

Welcoming Myself

2009-01-09T19:54:00.003-06:00

The Life on Dayton blog just received another contributor...ME! Sarah is gracious enough to let me join her in posting here. To be honest, I was inspired by our friend Chelsea's statement that she was using her blog as a sort of online journal for her family. So, here I am!

Washington DC: Day 1,2 and 3

2009-01-09T14:41:00.005-06:00

We left Wednesday at 330 to go to Dallas for the night. Grace and Maddie Johnson are house and dog sitting with the help of Sherrie, Jim's Mom, during the day since the girls are in school. As soon as we got to the metroplex, we headed to Addison to see my friend Emily, and her husband Joe, and their new lab puppy Kai. The puppy was SO cute, and it was so fun to see them. Their apartment was also very nice and I wished we could have stayed longer; but they had to go to church, and we were starving. We met with Jim's friend Jason and his wife Candis for dinner at one of my favorite places, Macaroni Grill. It was super fun to chat with them and just hear about their life. Then we headed to the hotel to go to bed early, because yesterday was going to be a long day.

Our wake up call came on Thursday at 345 am. We left for the airport at 415, and got there before workers were. We had to wait for people to show up to check us in and send us through security. We got all checked in by 5 and our plane didn't take off until 635 am. I got some breakfast, and watched the time go slowly by. We finally boarded a little early, and landed safely in DC around 10 local time (we gained an hour traveling). We found our luggage, and headed for the metro. It was the first time I had ever ridden on a Subway and it was way fun. After trekking around, finding our hotel, and checking in, we found a Corner Bakery in the same building as our hotel, grabbed some lunch, and then I laid in bed the rest of the afternoon while Jim worked.

I was supposed to be downstairs in the lobby to meet John (Roberta's husband- a co-worker of Jim's) so that we could take a cab to the capitol. All of Congressman Thornberry's staff was having dinner. We ate at this place called the Old Warehouse in Alexandria, VA, and it was delicious. We came home to watch the disappointing BCS championship game.

This morning, Jim had to be at the capitol by 9. I laid around, got up about 930 to get some breakfast at McDonald's and walk around the neighborhood we are staying in. There wasn't really much to do, so I went to Border's and got a new book called Still Alice.

I came back, and, you guessed it, laid around. Showered, read, got on the computer, and watched TV. Now I'm just waiting for Jim to get off of work (around 5).

The picture is the views from our hotel.

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-03T21:28:00.003-06:00

Here are my New Year's Resolutions:

1) Learn to sew

2) Graduate from College

3) Lose at least two pounds a month

4) Memorize 24 Scriptures

5) Pay off my Credit Card

I ended 2008 in a bad mood. I learned how to play 42, sort of, but lost the game, and was incredibly tired at the stroke of midnight. I couldn't wait to get home and get in bed. I woke up feeling better, of course, and spent most of the first day of 2009 cleaning and organizing.

Lately, I have conveyed the message that I am unhappy with my house. I make complaints about it not being big enough, nice enough, or clean enough. And while all those things may be true, the fact of the matter is that it is still my home. My house has GREAT bones- it is so charming, and everyone who comes in agrees. I just see what it can be or what I want it to be, and want to get it there.