Halloween!

And I dont have a single costumed picture to post! I'm horrible. Macy was sick when I got home so no pics of her. I think mom got a few that I'll steal later.




Here is a spooky moon picture...maybe that will do for Halloween? It really is a beautiful night with the stars twinkling and the moon big and bright.

Muffin is curled up on top of my blankets...that won't be lasting long. She is stealing my body heat, I'm pretty sure of it.

I think this is a good sign that I need sleep...night night!

posted from Bloggeroid

Muffin Monday

How sweet is this?? Muffin is waiting by the door for me to leave this room... she's just hanging out with me, rubbing her face along the door frame.  Just being cool and sitting tight.  I thought it was the sweetest thing, so I had to take a picture!

(Ok, she's really just waiting for me to go feed her, but I can pretend, right?)

Happy week, my peeps!

Looking for Happiness

I know I sound like a dang broken record, telling you how tired I am.  In the past two weeks, I've worked over 170 hours - I'm beyond tired, I'm exhausted. My poor buddy who was just being nice and asking me how I was doing ended up seeing my eyes fill with tears as I told her - I'm. Just. Exhausted. It's one of those don't-be-nice-to-me-or-I'll-cry things. You know what I'm talking about it.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. 
                                                                                 John F. Kennedy 

For whatever reason, I at least feel like I'm a part of "Liberty and Justice for All."  I know, a little cog in the wheel of our country, but seriously, it's pretty cool to be a part of it.  At least, I keep telling myself. HAHAHA

So anyway, to keep sane, I try to notice some of the little things that I feel like I'm totally missing out on and I then try to latch onto their wonderfulness.  Because this craziness is almost past me and IT WILL BE OK (again, I keep trying to convince myself!)

So what is making me happy right now? This is:

This beautiful sunset that turned into this at the sun continued to dip below the horizon: 

It's like you can watch the night time begin to overtake the sun and the moon begins her reign over the sky. I love it.  It really was breathtaking and I'm so glad I made it home in time to see it.

What else is making me happy? My little niece, of course!

Macy Mae always makes me happy - she's so dang cute!! She looks like her daddy in this picture.  She's a happy baby and all smiles in the morning, which sets my day off to a great start.  Her sister was also home this weekend but I don't have any new pictures of her. But it was great to see her!

Those are two of my happy finds I thought I'd share with you.  Maybe you'd share something that makes you happy? Something small, silly, unique, whatever - give me SOMETHING to smile about!!!

Friday's Letters

Share your thankfulness here.

Dear family and friends who have been so supportive - I am SO THANKFUL for you. Having prayers going up on my behalf, on my family's behalf, it's awesome. You people are wonderful. Thank You. Dear work, you are totally kicking my butt. I'm exhausted, tired of working 14 hours a day, and ready for some decent sleep. Seriously. Please be nice to me. Dear caller at work who called from the bathtub, you are a freak. Why are you calling a government office from your bathtub in the middle of the day? Creepy.  Dear clear starry skies, you make me so happy when I get home at 11:30 p.m. I gaze up at you and know that God is amazing!  Dear bed, I'm coming to visit you RIGHT NOW.

Linking up with love! :)

Thirty Things on Thursday - 14

Thirty Things on Thursday...

Today's Question: Describe 5 strengths you have.


Ugh. This is harder than the weaknesses!

Ok, let's see:

1 - I'm good with people. I enjoy them, I love talking to them, hearing their stories and finding all the cool nuggets inside each one of us that makes us special.  People usually warm up to me quickly and I can usually put them at ease.

2 - I am creative.  I love making stuff, gluing and cutting and taping.  I like looking at a blank page and figuring out what it's going to end up looking like.  I get such a thrill from it.

3 - I have a giving heart.  I love to buy things for people. Give things to people.  I feel like it's important to give back to my community and to my church.  I love to share things with people - the pictures I've taken of their families, homemade goodies, handmade cards - I love giving pieces of my heart away to others.

4 - I appreciate little things.  One of my pen pals put patriotic stickers on the back of the letter she sent me and I LOVED it. It touched me! I am so patriotic and that small touch just meant the world.  I love the stars on a dark night and admiring the amazingness of it all.  I take one point five million pictures of my drive to work because every day is something different.  Little things = awesome.

5 - I'm a good cheerleader.  I think I encourage people well. or I hope I'm not off the mark on that? Anyway, I enjoy helping people dream and reach for the dreams. I like supporting folks when they need just a bit of an extra dose of it, and seeing them succeed. It's awesome.

So yeah, that's me.  I do feel very awkward bragging on myself, if you call it that? Whatever - there you go! :)

I have no title for this. It's just random. :)

Just wanted to share a few pictures from the weekend because they are still making me smile.


Do you see this? This is called "Pawpaw's Girls." He spoils them. Loves having them home together.


Kenzie and AH raked all the leaves up and jumped in them... A total celebration of Autumn.


Adorable baby girl getting a Sunday nap in... So peaceful.

And on that note, since I've fallen asleep twice, I think I'm going to bed. Sweet dreams everyone!

posted from Bloggeroid

2 more weeks

Two weeks...that's all that is left of this misery. Two. Weeks.

I never imagined an office job requiring 10, 12, 14 hour days, seven days a week. But that's been my reality for a while now. I leave at 7:30 am and get home around 10:00, 10:30, 10:45 pm. And there is no break-no chance to eat lunch for all the phone calls, people in the office, to do lists. Yesterday, we voted over 200 people in office, hundreds of ballots were sent by mail. I didn't track how many phone calls I took, but I'll try to do that today.

In between are people who know me coming into the office and wanting to ask about dad, so you have to balance their concern and sympathy with the knowledge that you are keeping people waiting on the phones and leaving your co worker to answer everything.

Sunday, we took off. We haven't had a day off in weeks. So I spent Sunday at church, surrounded by prayers for dad. I was so exhausted I couldn't tell you what was preached, focusing wasn't much of an option for me. But it was nice to be back in church. You don't realize how much you miss it until it's gone.


The Hagy Ladies getting ready for church.


We are at mom and dad's, so yummy to have home cooked food and not a burger. I was so happy to have some time with AH, my niece that I haven't really spent any time with in months. She is becoming a teenager but is still a little girl, too.


She and cousin Kenzie raked up leaves to jump into over and over again. Then they made smores over the fire pit until they ran out of marshmallows.



Can you see the leaves changing? I've almost missed fall this year, which makes me sad. Next year I am planning to attend some fall festivals to make up for it. But this Sunday spent with family was great, especially being outside on a perfect fall day.

The problem came about yesterday when none of us wanted to come back to work. The small taste of normalcy had us wanting to bail on work and stay home! :)

So we just have to remember: two more weeks. Just in time for some holiday cooking...two more weeks.

posted from Bloggeroid

Muffin Monday

Muffin...she can be so sweet but when she's done with you, she's done. Move quick because a bite or scratch is coming your way!

I can't believe it's Monday already. We took Sunday off and that might have been a mistake because now I don't want to go back. :(

Oh well, I better overcome those feelings and haul my booty out of bed. I'm running late already! Have a great week!

posted from Bloggeroid

Friday's Letters - 15.

Show the world how tough you are here. 

On a serious note: 
Dear Life, you tossed a few curve balls in the past several months.  A pretty big one yesterday... not the news I'd hoped for.  I'm a little afraid of what you are toughening me up for but I am depending on God to pull me (and all the family) through it. Dear family and friends who offered up prayers - God heard you!! The news was yes, cancer, but not aggressive and invasive cancer. This is a blessing and I know it could be so much worse. But please continue to say a prayer for my Pops. He is one-of-a-kind. Dear kind co-workers, I know ya'll realize when I need some space. Thanks for letting me try to be normal and work like a normal person. :)  Dear God, Thank you for the blessings, for the love, for the people you've placed in my life and surrounded me with - it's a beautiful gift you've given to me.

On a not so serious note: 
Dear voters who bring people in our office flowers, WOW. That is SO NICE. It wasn't even for me, but I was still thankful to see the appreciation given to someone in my field. It impressed all of us.  Dear mail lady, the goodies that you bring to us is what my lunch and dinner consists of quite often.  Cheese crunchies, lady fingers, chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch cookies, haystacks, oh my gracious you are a good person. THANK YOU.  Dear voter who overheard the very random conversation in our office about EMS calls and the nursing home, Umm... we aren't evil people. But I do feel bad you overheard our randomness. Please understand we are totally loopy from lack of sleep. 

On a positive note:  ONLY 19 days until this election is over - oh my gosh thank you, I want to sleep for a week SOLID! 

Happy Friday - ya'll have a good weekend!

Thirty Things on Thursday - 13

Every Thursday I answer another question on this random list I found at another blog. I don't even remember how I stumbled upon it. But... here goes week 13:

13. Describe five weaknesses you have.

Seriously?  Do I have to? Ugh, who wants to think about this crap? *sigh* OK, I've done the rest, let me see what I can come up with on this one... 

1.  Finances. I suck at finances. I never know how much money I have in the bank and I've never balanced a checkbook. I go through times where I feel like I can't spend a penny and then I'll go buy whatever I want. And usually it's not even for me, but it still screws me up. I'd love to turn this over to someone and they tell me what I can spend in a week. 

2.  Judgmental.  I'm very judgmental and will make a judgement in a snap.  It's very wrong of me and I know it, but I still do it! I really need to change this. In Galations this week, it clearly says not to judge someone because who is to say you won't be in their place tomorrow? No lie... 

3.  My Mouth. I talk. I talk a lot and I blab on and on about everything and nothing! And I gossip, which is driving me insane because I HATE being gossipped about, so why do that to someone else?? *sigh* I'm a very imperfect person, so I need to definitely makes some changes, this being a big one. 

4.  Food. I love food. Well, actually I hate a lot of food, but those things I do like are really bad for me and I eat a lot of it. Which is how I keep my very overweight womanly figure. This is going to change, but not before this election. It's my focus after life settles down. 

5.  My desire to be liked. This one gets me into trouble because I'm too friendly and get ran over. In my professional and personal life, I need to worry less about being liked and more about just being me, standing my ground.  I'm just so laid-back about some things and VROOM, BUMP BUMP, I'm flatted in the path of a trucker with a personality. (Does this make any sense? Whatever). 

So there, you know my weaknesses. :)  I hope next week is more fun!

Four month birthday!

Guess who turned for months old yesterday? The sweetest, cutest, most preciously spoiled baby girl in all the world!



I can't believe she's already four months old! I can't believe she's only been here four months! She was so little...



She's not even mine, but she had totally changed my world. Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful blessing!

posted from Bloggeroid

Faith.

Love this! Check it out here!

Folks, let me just say this about the internet and social media.  It can be ugly. Very very ugly. It can destroy lives, push people to their limits and alienate folks from honest, person-to-person relationships.

And then, it can connect us to people who help remind us to have faith in the wake of the storm.  That God has a plan for us that was developed before the Earth was created, therefore He knows our situations and has given us trials before this to prepare us for this. That He is always with us, caring for us and loving us.

I'm so thankful for the people I have met through blogging who have strong faith and are open and honest about their relationship with God. It's been inspiring to see what people overcome with God as their focus.

And let me also say, God has REALLY blessed my family in the past year.  We have seen soooo many blessings, so many health scares and crazy health situations and God has shown us mercy every single time.  Today was another one of those times where we were asking everyone to pray and it's almost like a miracle happened over the past one and a half weeks.

I'm sooooooooooooo thankful, Thankful, THANKFUL for the good news. So glad God spared us one more time and I hope we will continue to keep us on this trend.  Please send up a prayer for my family! :)

Muffin Monday.

My sweet kitten has been cuddling up and purring with me - she's missing me being home. Ok, honestly she's missing my body warmth but whatever. It works for me. 

The pic on the left is a postcard my sister brought me back from NY and it's so much like Muffin! I framed it and it hangs in my bedroom.  Can't you see the resemblance? 

Hope you have a lovely week!

Boo-tiful Baby Girl.

I found this cute outfit for Halloween and Macy needed it.  I mean, what cutie patootie girl doesn't need a little black outfit for Halloween?  Since we were heading to Clay and Angela's to celebrate Angela's birthday this weekend, Katie decided to "Halloween her up." I, of course, added the bow.  It did match, her leggings were purple and white striped. :)

She was so cute as I tried to take these pictures. She wouldn't quit giggling and smiling long enough for the picture not to blur!

Weekend Cat Blogging...

Because I never get to participate in Weekend Cat Blogging, I feel a little bad about crashing the party this weekend. But blame it on Patchouli! I was spotted lurking around the page and he (she?) demanded that I post this weekend! So here I am!

I don't even have a cute picture of my fur baby... but I do have a very typical one:

This cat loves the bathtub. If I'm taking a bath, she's sitting on the tub beside me. If I'm in the shower, she is sitting on the bathmat waiting for me to get out.  Here, the tub is dry and she's letting me know she wants me to toss in some water for her to lap up.  Yes, she's spoiled. I admit it. :)

And because I totally adore my niece, I'm posting a pic from last night of her, too!

Macy and her daddy.  She is crazy about her mama and daddy and just giggles and laughs for them.  Katie (my sister), who claims to hate monkeys on baby things, calls her Monkey or Fish. Usually it's Monkey Moodle, which just cracks me up. Monkey Moodle?? Where did that come from?

Anyway - there is my life summed up in two pictures:  Muffin and Macy. (and AH when she's home!)

Link up over at Pam's Place! 

Friday's Letters

This week has been a tough one. We've received some difficult news, on top of being physically and mentally exhausted from work. Of course, there have been plenty of blessings, too. Send up a prayer for me, please? Thanks!

Dear Macy, my mornings with you are what keep me going, thanks for being so dang cute. I do hope you grow some hair soon...



To the two temp girls in the office, I wish we could keep you forever. You are such hard workers, friendly, competent...it's awesome.

Daddy, you are awesome. You came over at 8 pm to check out my messed up kitchen light and threw away the bug in my bathroom light. And you took my trash off and changed my air filter. Then congratulated me for changing my own toilet seat. ha ha!

Muffin, the cooler weather is making you want to snuggle again, which makes me happy.



#shereadstruth, I'm always behind you, so I'm in Galations and I'm really enjoying it. Proverbs really rocked!

My pen pal, Raynore, you are awesome fot all the letters you send! My mail box loves having something there! Thanks!

Thank you, gas station, for carrying my drink!



And thanks to the Dollar General for hand sanitizer. Too many people, too many germs.

Glad I could participate, let's see if I can link up! :)

http://comeoneileen86.blogspot.com/

posted from Bloggeroid

Thirty Things on Thursday

Describe a typical day in your current life:

These days aren't typical, but here it goes.

6:03 a.m.:  The alarm goes off. Usually Muffin has already pounced on me and has me awake.
6:03 - 6:30 a.m.:  Play on my phone in bed.
6:30 -6:50 a.m.: Grab a shower.
6:50-7:15 a.m.: Get ready for work.
7:15 a.m. - 7:30...7:40... Oh crap I'm late!:  Play with Macy at her house! :)
8:00 - 12:30 p.m.:  Teach a class on how to work on Election Day
12:30 - 12:50 p.m.:  Collect orders via text for everyone's lunch and pick it up on my way back to the office
12:50 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.: Work with voters, answer calls, etc
5:00 p.m.: TURN THE PHONES OFF AND LOCK THE DOOR.
5:01 - .... last night it was 10:45 p.m.: Work on all the stuff that can't possibly be done during the day while answering phone calls and working with voters.  Tonight - hopefully out of here earlier.
Eventually that night: Settle down and read my #shereadstruth devotional

The next day, start it all over again! :)

need. sleep.

After I post this, I am going to bed.

But.

I had to share a few pictures with you before bed. You know I visit with Macy in the mornings. So, check out this awesome picture from this morning:



Adorable? I agree. Love this picture...will be included in my favorites. Pawpaw and his baby girl.



She is so adorably happy in the mornings. I love starting my morning with Macy cuddle time.

When I left Macy and headed towards work, I had the coolest scenery, fog and sunrise combining for a great drive.



I really don't mind my drive at all, it's really pretty. Just after the picture, a deer ran out in front of me.



How you had a great hump day...I'm off to sleepy land! Night!

posted from Bloggeroid

Missing Muffin Monday.

I've been home so little, I have no new pics of Muffin this week! Tragic, I know. Here are some of my favorites stored in my phone.














Have a Great week!

posted from Bloggeroid

Learning as I grow.

Sad Panda can be found here.

Oh... just as I'm trying to improve, I blew it big time today and totally ruined my progress. *sigh*  I did apologize, to the person and in front of the people I had blown it in front of, but seriously? Why did I get so annoyed so quickly and really messed up? Ugh. I hate feeling so bad about my actions because I know it hurt and annoyed the person I directed it to. Pooh.

So we've worked all weekend... I currently have a load of clothes in my washer that have been there since last night. Guess I'll be doing those again. My house is turned upside down because I'm just toast after work and don't have the energy to clean it.  My joy of the day was searching "Christmas Baby Photos" on Pintrest, hoping to find cute ideas to try out on Macy.

In trying to find cool tutorials, I stumbled upon this:

This can be found here.

The reason for the season, yes, but also the reason for living. What a great reminder that I needed today and it ties into my Galatians study on #SheReadsTruth.  Thankfully, I'm not saved by my works because I'd never make it. I will always fail.  But I'm saved by the birth of this tiny little baby, his perfect life here on earth and his triumph over death.  He fulfilled the promise that allows me to make mistakes and still have my place in heaven. Whew! I'm so thankful! Still Sad Panda for hurting someone I like, but thankful for forgiveness and grace.

So now it's dark outside again... it wasn't much after daylight when I came in. I think it's time for me to call it a night and head for home.  I need a break and a breather - I need to press my restart button and do it all again (with better results) tomorrow.  Sweet dreams, my friends! :)

Friday's Letters (On Friday!)

I know, can you believe it? I'm doing Friday's Letters on FRIDAY!

So here is a funny Friday story for you:

As I left a training class I was teaching for my job, I had to fight my way through a group of people standing outside the building, all facing this guy and girl kneeling on the ground. I didn't pay them much attention as I "excuse-me" my way back to the driveway and began walking towards my car, with 40+ people facing in my direction to listen to their speaker (this is all outdoors).  The "Ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am!" finally penetrated my head and I look up, to have everyone staring me down.
--Police Officer: Ma'am, we are going to blow up that suitcase behind you.
--Me: Can I please leave first?
--PO:  No ma'am. You need to get out of the line of fire.
--Me: OH! um. ok, ... (walking back to the building to stand with the rest of the people...)

I wait for them to learn how to yell "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"  three times. No wait, make it six times because they didn't do it with enough gusto the first time.  Then we learn about the itchy trigger finger.

Then the suitcase didn't explode. So we have to check on it.

Yell "FIRE IN THE HOLE" -- trigger finger and BOOM. At this point I could leave and go to my car as everyone else ran to the destroyed suitcase.

That was the beginning of my day yesterday. :)

Here is the rest of my letter:

Dear Macy, I adore you like crazy. My morning visits with you are just the highlight of every day. I'm so thankful for you.

Dear drive to work:  Thank you for continuing to give me great scenery on the way to work.  I'm looking forward to seeing your fall colors coming soon!

Dear Muffin, thank you for not packing up and leaving me since you never see me anymore.  :(

http://comeoneileen86.blogspot.com/

Thirty Things on Thursday - 11

Thirty Things on Thursday - Question 11: Describe 10 pet peeves you have.

1. Noise. No really, I'm loud and I understand other people are too, but noise really gets to me. 
2. People calling me Honey, Sugar, Darling, Sweetie... please stop. It really doesn't make me happy. 
3. Grocery store aisle hoggers. You know who I'm talking about, don't you?
4. Anyone making fun of Southerners. In person, in movies, in tv - this really pisses me off. 
5. People who call me closed minded for having a set of beliefs that I live my life by - even if I'm not perfect and I fail at it frequently.  The deal is - how are you not being closed minded by demanding I believe just like you? I won't push my beliefs on you and I expect you to have the same respect.  It doesn't mean I won't like you as a person,I  just won't agree with everything you believe in. (and you know what, it's ok. You don't believe everything I believe in, either, so aren't we kinda on the same page here? Maybe?) 
6. Know-it-alls. 
7. Please don't tell me how to run my life, what I should do, how I should do it. I'm ok, I'm a grown adult, I'm living all by myself and doing ok at it. I truly don't need you to tell me how to function in my day-to-day life. I'm good. Promise. 
8. My mouth. My very own mouth is my pet peeve because I talk too much. It gets me into trouble and if there is one thing I'm focused on changing right now, it would be that. 
9. Always negative and angry people.  There is no sunshine. All is gloom and doom. I've been this person before. And sometimes I slip back into being this person. And it's horrible. No one wants to be around this person and I don't like being that way... so I'm constantly making efforts to be positive and thankful. 
10. Jealousy.  We all experience it for more than just having someone looking at our significant others. I've had some folks jealous of my college degree. Or of my family-life. Or of my (fill in the blank here).  Try being happy for people instead....

And there you go. I'm sure I could find more... trust me. But there is a good start.  

You have got to be kidding me.

It's 10 p.m. Half of us are still at work because we are leading up to the election.

We just received a phone call.  Interestingly:

• Someone was actually calling a government office at 10 p.m. at night and expecting someone to answer. 
• They actually had someone answer the phone - my coworker. 
• And they just wanted someone to settle an argument about what you had to bring with you to the polls on Election Day in order to be eligible to vote. They honestly just wanted to see who would win the argument. 

*blink blink* 

I love working here sometimes. It's such a trip.  I find it odd that when we call people at 9:30 p.m. they don't question why the are receiving a phone call so late at night from a government office. It's like they just think we work 24/7.  It makes me laugh - not in a mean way but in a that's-such-a-trip kinda way. 

Even half asleep this morning, I appreciated the cool nature scene in front of me - let me share it with you. 

You know I am totally fascinated with this road winding ahead of me on my drive into work. I've only shared it with you a million times. I don't know what it is, but I just love it. So there, enjoy my morning drive with me. :) 

Now, it's definitely time for me to go home and head for bed.  Muffin is probably worried about where her mama is and you know I can't have that.  Sweet dream, imaginary friends - I'll catch you later in the week! 

Muffin Monday

Since all the pics I took last night are gone, you get more pics from Saturday night.



You know, when Muffin was being oh so helpful as I scrapbooked...



Although she can be a sweet cat, last night she went to shredding my couch at 12:30. Not amused.



Here's an old pic for you, but look at that face. How could you not love it?

posted from Bloggeroid