The Disjointed Thoughts of a Writer

   I made the worst fudge earlier.  See, when I went to PCC, I worked in the bakery and loved my job.  We used to make fudge, but it was a quick kind and was ready in less than a half hour.  I found a recipe in Ginny's cookbook for five-minute fudge.  It called for chocolate pieces, but I figured I could substitute cocoa powder.  First mistake.  It also called for evaporated milk.  I had sweetened condensced.  Second mistake.  I also jumped the gun and put the cocoa in before giving the milk, sugar, and salt time to simmer.  Mistake number three.

   To make a long story short, I ended up melting almost half of the plastic spatula (which, of course, I didn't notice till I was pouring my concoction in the dish).  So after if firmed, I cut myself a slice and was content w/ pulling out the many slivers of platic.  Until I tasted it, that is.  Yyuuuuck!  Grainy and all-around nasty.  Ick, ick, ick!  From now on, I'll follow the recipe book to the "t"!

   So as I was typing all that, I looked over at Jill.  She had a mouth full of something, and when I looked, I saw the deep finger marks in the butter.  I could help laughing, and it was my fault.  I left it there in the open, ready for butter-lovers everywhere to take a sample. :D

   I'm excited.  I had no idea what to do w/ the chicken in our fridge.  But I went to allrecipes.com (thank you, Sarah, for this lifesaving website), and found what I think will be a great recipe.  Yippee!  Oh, and I'm also touched.  Contrary to what you may believe, I'm not a bad cook (though I've had my share of failed experiments, let me tell you).  But Jon (out of the blue, too) told me that my cooking has improved.  *grins*  But seriously, I've done most of the cooking since we moved here, so I should hope so.  He always did most of it before.  Though it's still not one of my favorite things.  Maybe I'll be lucky and have a child who enjoys to cook. *crosses fingers*

   Oh, yeah, and I just rewrote my bio.  I think it's the best so far.  Short and to the point.  I hated my first one and my second was weird.  Maybe I'll make a friend; I read someone else's journal and commented a bunch.

   I keep waiting for this kid to move, and he (or she) just doesn't want to!  It wasn't till well into my fifth month w/ Jill that I felt her move, but I've heard you can feel the second one sooner.  C'mon kid, start kicking!

   Sorry for all the rambling.  Y'all have a great night!

   This has been a tough morning.  I don't think I'll throw up anymore, though, so that's a good thing.  It got to the point where it was that gross green stuff in your belly.  Eww!  But I had a few bisuits and some watermelon, so that seems to have helped.

   I hope we get my car back by Friday!  Jon's needs repair.  He has a loose transmission valve (or something like that), and so it leaks out.  The guys at the repair shop in FL said they fixed it, but they didn't.  He was going to take it back, but then we moved.  So he put transmission fluid in the other day, and it was gone the next morning.  It had all leaked out overnight.  So we definitely can't take that car.  But mine's in the shop getting fixed.  Hopefully, it'll be out in time.  <crosses fingers>  We've been trying to get down to Steve and Jen's for a while now, and this weekend is perfect, cuz Jon has Sunday and Monday off.  Since it's a holiday, we figure they either have it off or can get it off.  I know they're trying.

   I think I can finally safely say that we have crossed the hurdle.  Jill goes to bed every night w/ no qualms, and every day (except Sunday) has no problem w/ napping.  On Sundays, she sleeps in church.  So she's not tired after lunch.  I keep her up till three, but she fights it every time.  Yesterday, she didn't sleep till four, and then only for an hour.  <sigh>  Somehow we've got to break her of sleeping through church.

   Not much is happening here.  It snowed this morning, and we're going to go out to play later.  But we play every day, so that won't be much different.  Except the sun hasn't shone once today.  It's gonna be cold!

   I know God heard them.  What happened was this:  Marios was driving (thank God they had their seat belts on--this is the only state that doesn't require it) and they hit a patch of black ice.  He slid off the road and into a telephone pole, knocking power out in Center Conway all the way to the state line.  He only hit his head on the steering wheel, but she hit hers on the dashboard, breaking her nose.  The seat belt pulled into her and pushed a rib into her liver.  She lost a third of it.  They had to give her 6 units of blood, but she's going to make it.  By last night, though critical, she was stable.  As long as nothing happened last night, they are going to stich her up today.  She'll be home in a week.  They were very fortunate.

   In other news, Jill didn't have to have a spanking with her nap today.  Every day (for naps and nighttime), she fights it.  She'll stand in her crib and scream, and sometimes it takes three or four spankings to get her to realize she's not going to win this time.  But today she only whimpered before succumbing to sleep.  Children amaze me; I know she was tired.  I could tell in the way she was acting.  But sometimes kids fight sleep so hard!  Me?  Just point me in the direction of the bed and I'll go willingly.  Kids really have no clue how good they have it.  <shakes head>

   About the church in lower NH:  we're probably not going.  It's not a paid position.  Now don't get me wrong; we're still moving.  Jon says we'll probably be here a month more at the longest, but he's going to try to get a job in a big city, even maybe down there.  There's a trucking company, McClaine, that is always hiring.  He wouldn't drive the trucks; he'd stock them.  Steve used to work there, and Jen does currently.  We'll have to wait and see what the Lord wants.  (But sometimes it's so hard to wait!)

   I'm so glad I'm in a better mood.  This morning, I was in the foulest mood.  Usually, if I go to bed, that takes care of my mood.  Not today.  I went to bed yucky and woke up the same.  God totally gave me a better mood, for which I thank Him. 

   Once again, I had more to say, but it's all slipped my mind.  Ta, ta!

   The first is in the hospital recovering from injuries.

   See, this is the thing.  I didn't really learn to drive till I was married; therefore, the car still scares me.  And I hate to drive.  Even just going to the post office is a dreaded chore.  And see, we moved to a tourist town, so traffic is crazy.  I moved from Florida, so I thought I knew crazy drivers.  Nope.  They got nothin' on these drivers!  And the traffic is weird.  You don't get convenient breaks in traffic in which to dart out.  No, you'll be clear on one side, and not on the other, or the cars'll come along with just little enought space that you can't pull out without danger to you or someone else.

   But you also can't sit there forever, so you have to pull out.  I finally did and cut someone off.  He honked at me.  Really, I would have had enough room, but he was going faster than he should have.  Scared me, though!

   Then, on the way home, some guy had to swerve to get around a parked car on the side of the road, so I swerved accordingly.  Almost took out a telephone pole.  That's one I won't be telling Jon about. ;)  See, I'm really bad a judging distance, so I'm sure I swerved a little much.  But I'm stressed when I drive, and if Jill's screaming, add that to the mix.  Then you have other crazy drivers.  Argh!  If only I had a horse and buggy!  Those are the days I was meant for.

   We've had a good day.  Jill took an extremely short nap, so she's been easily irritated today, but nothing I can't handle.  Much better than the past two days.  On the way back from Hannaford, she fell asleep, so she's napping right now.  Ahh, sweet peace.  I just hope she wakes up before the sun goes down (it starts to get dark around four here because of the surrounding mountains), because I promised we'd go outside and play with her trike.  I want to get outside before the sunny weather disappears.

   I can't believe that in five days it'll be Thanksgiving!  I'm so excited.  Evan will be with us (Jon's brother), and I know he'll enjoy it.  He works at a tavern, and I know he'll welcome the home-cooked food.  We have a huge turkey!  Ginny wanted a 16-18 lb turkey, and the closest I could find was just under 15 lbs, so I hope she'll be happy.  That sucker'll feed us for another year to come!  We're going to have that, stuffing, green bean casserole (blech!!), marshmallow-topped yams, pumpkin pie, apple pie (if Jon'll make it--yummy-yum!), egg nog, and sparkling cider.  Also whatever Evan brings from the tavern.  Oh, yeah, and we're going to make appetizers to eat around five.  And we're having crescent rolls!  Mmm, my tummy's already growling!  Those poor pilgrims, having to eat the little the earth had yielded to them.  But then again, they didn't have to drive, so maybe it wasn't so bad...

   I have got to make more LJ friends.  So next time I read someone else's comments to another journal (if I like what I see), I'm going to try to befriend that person.  See, I'm shy around people I don't know, but I can do it.  I never know what to say or how to act.  Grr...

   Anyway, my back is yacking at me, so I'll sign off for now!

   Get ready for mush!

   Gosh, I love my baby.  She's so good.  Now don't get me wrong; she's getting more spankings these days than she's ever gotten.  But she tries.  And she's at the age where she's learning everything at light-speed.  It's hard to keep pace with how fast her mind works.  And she picks things up really quick!

   I have to tell my bittersweet story from last night.  We did another musical thing with David last night (but this time Ben went instead of Bill).  Jill was okay, but not as good as usual.  She got two spankings.  She hasn't had to be spanked like that in a long time.  The first one was normal--you know, tears, then we went back into the service.  The second spanking was the tear-jerker for both of us.  I told her I was disappointed and that she knew better, then she got her spanking.  I let her cry, then I put her on the floor and talked to her, explaining that I understood her boredom and that it would be over soon, but that was no excuse for her behavior.  And I asked her if she would be good for mommy.  And this whole time I'm talking to her, she's got these little tears coming from her eyes, but she's not making a sound, and her lip came out, then went back in.  But the worst part was when I asked if she'd be good for me, she nodded her head, looking pitiful.  And she was much better.  We had no more problems after the second spanking.

   Then today, I felt so bad for her.  I know car washes scare her, but she's been getting better.  Until today.  As soon as it started, she started crying.  I had to bring her up with me and she buried her face in my chest.  She'd look up and start crying again.  Not that I blame her; it would probably scare me too.

   She's such a character.  She has to have her boots on at all times, but now it's evolved into her jacket too.  She wore it all morning.  And she wore all the bling she could find.  I thought all her play jewelry was in storage, but obviously I was wrong.  I love that little girl.  God has so blessed us.

   And I guess I'll tell my good news.  I'm pregnant again.  We don't have insurance, but God will help us.  I just hope we can find it cheaply up here.  I want a boy, but I did before and we got Jill.  Also, it'd be lots cheaper if we had a girl; I've already got bundles of clothes.  But anyway, whatever God wants us to have is what we'll get.  And this time I'm more prepared emotionally.  Cuz it was tough the first time!

   Anyway, the house is a pigsty.  I should probably go clean before Jill wakes up.  Tootles!

   I got my laptop yesterday.  It was delivered to the office, and Jon brought it home.  I played with it a little last night, but today Jon discovered that though it is merely bottom-of-the-line, it comes w/ a CD burner and a (here's the good part) DVD player.  We already have one, but still, it's cool to have.  And Jon's watching a DVD on it right now.

   We went to Hello, Dolly last night.  It was so good!  We laughed through the whole thing, and the woman who played Dolly was wonderful.  And the guy who played Barnaby was hilarious.  Before we went, we went to For The Kitchen again, and ate there.  Once again, their food was good.  And we didn't get ice cream (we didn't have time), so the waitress gave us each a tiny sample of ice cream.  And boy was it good!

   Today's a lazy day for us.  Jill got up at seven (she didn't get to sleep till 11:30 cuz she didn't sleep at Jennie's house), so she was ready for a nap by 8:30.  She slept for almost two and a half hours.  But it's good; now she won't need an afternoon nap, and we have stuff to do, like grocery shopping, paying library fines, going to Bealls (gift card from my b-day).  And we might help our friends move the rest of their stuff.

   Anyway, the pookster's crying, and Jon's probably showering, so I should probably run and grab her. 

   I really should be downstairs washing the dishes.  That's the only thing left to do, but I hate washing them.  I don't know why.  It doesn't take me long, and there aren't even many to do.  Most can go in the dishwasher.

   I haven't written in here in so long, so I have a lot to say.  But I probably won't, because Jon'll be home soon and I'd like it to look halfway decent when he gets home.

   To start, I don't work at the Merry-Go-Round anymore.  Praise the Lord!  I could go on about how I disliked working there, but I'll save it for another day.  I now work at the school from 8 to 4, instead of 10 to 6.  I am very thankful for that.  The only thing I don't like is that Jill now gets interrupted in her afternoon nap.  But I only have six more weeks, and then I can stay home.

   Jon talked to Pastor Mars and I'll be working for the seminary, but from home.  I'll be grading papers, burning CDs, and a bunch of other stuff.  I'll have to go in two hours every day, but I can go whenever I want, so I'm going to try to go during Jill's naptime.

   The school runs a daycamp during the summer, and I have the second grade.  Though challenging, I love it.  Especially Bible time.  They ask all  manner of questions, and I've had to search the Scriptures a few times.  They're good for me, because they make me more knowledgeable about my Bible.  And they're like sponges.  They soak up what I have to say. 

   Jill's growing like a weed.  I can't believe how fast she's growing.  She walks everywhere, but she's still clumsy.  She has so many bruises on her forhead and under her chin.  Another reason I'm excited about working from home is that I'll be able to potty train her when I want to.  In just a few more months, I'm going to try.  My goal is to have her trained by the time she's two. 

   I had started writing again, but now I've stopped again.  It's very hard to find time, though I know if I really tried, I could.  I'm hoping that by working from home, I'll find some of that missing time.

   Santa Rosa County, where I live, is one of the few dry counties in the country.  We do sell beer and wine, but no hard liquor.  This has been voted on 33 times in the past 40 or 50 years, and the people have always voted to keep it dry.  The reason we sell any alchohol at all is because the state mandates it.  Anyway, it's a big fight every time, and the last time this came up, the former pastor (whom I have no respect for) was able to prove in a court of law that alchohol is a drug.  Anyway, we're trying to keep this issue from going to vote, but if it does, we're praying that we can keep our county dry.

   I really ought to go.  Because I keep worrying that Jon will be home before the house is clean, I'm not really concentrating.  So hopefully I'll be able to write again soon.