Quick updates

Well, I guess its my own fault that I haven't been journaling and therefore feel a little out of the loop. I've appreciated the random comments people have left on the messages I have put up. Right now its kinda late and I'm getting kinda sleepy so this will be short.

I feel like things have been going pretty well lately...with PC and I that is. I've enjoyed so much getting to know him and the fact that he enjoys getting to know me. I'm not going to go into deep detail of course because I'm sure you all are sick of reading about that (be honest).

I will say one quick thing...my parents and PC and I went North to visit my Grammy, Aunt C, Grandma, Aunt W, and Aunt B...we had a lot of fun. We even rode there together which could have had potential of being super frustrating and stressful but we all genuinely had fun. Also my aunts and grandma's seemed to like PC a lot which means a lot to me. And the whole time he was just being himself. And we were being ourselves together as we normally are. I'm actually looking forward to going out with my parents again on Friday to celebrate Dad's birthday. Now don't get worried...we aren't going to keep just doing doubles with my parents...although it is encouraging to know that they all like eachother so much that we enjoy spending time together now.

Granted there have been some stressfull situations happening in the last few days. Lets just say things were going pretty smoothly until misunderstanding and lack of communication took place and its caused some (well lets be honest...quite a bit of ) tension. I'm sure most of you have already figured out what the situation is. I know that GOD is going to work it out and that it isn't up to me to try and iron out other peoples emotions. I need to continue to care but I can't always make everyone happy all the time (unfortunately).

Well I'm heading off for now...have a great day

Yeah I'm still alive...

Hey everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated my journal. So much is going on around me and if I had the opportunity to type all day long I would tell you.

Things have been going great with PC. Its amazing how God sends you someone out of nowhere...and it is true...it comes when your not looking (well...maybe when your looking in the opposite direction). So...still lots of smiles with that.

I've been working my butt off at work lately. I reeeeeallly don't like holiday shoppers. Even at a Christian bookstore they are just sooooo pushy and needy. And if you remember all of my pet peeves about retail from a previous journal post...just know that all of them have been getting to me more lately. Anyway, I have this job for a reason. Maybe it was to meet PC...who knows ; )

I have decided that I am unsure about going into management permanently as a career. Simply because of the demands on your time. Like I said before, my boss puts in sooooo many hours and technically it is ok now because she isn't married...but if you were married...I wouldn't bet on that marriage lasting long if you spent all your time at the store catching up on stuff. So yeah...I'm keeping my eye out for other stuff.

I'm gonna have to leave for work here in a bit so I best get off this thing. I'm a little bummed that I have to work on Christmas eve until 7 (meaning I miss the Candle light service)...but I'm gonna meet PC's brother tonight after I get off work. ( I have a feeling I'm going to end up calling him Goth from what I've heard already). Sorry my update was pretty ... well....uninformative. Its to the point where I waited so long that I can't go back and fill you in on everything that has happened. But I'll try to do better for those of you who I don't see much .. or at all.


Have a MERRRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS !!!!

I Believe There are...Angels among us

OK, so picture that as sung by Alabama back in the day. Yeah, its not that popular of a song now but its what came to mind. So I know I've been spending all of these journals updating you all on my new-found PC but I've neglected to tell you some awesome stories of people I've encountered at work in the last week that have really just left me thinking...God is totally using that person.

As you know I've been kinda frustrated at work lately. Its the holiday season and even "christians" can get snippy if you can't give every bit of attention you have to them and be their personal shopper. I've also been frustrated with the schedule as I found out that I have to work yet another Sunday (today) and I have to work straight through the Christmas Eve service on Saturday. Needless to say, its made me wonder if I want to make those sacrifices on a regular basis by going into retail permanently...but God is still guiding me so we'll see where we go.

Anyway, the other day this older man came into the store and waited in line to buy something. Actually there didn't happen to be much of a line at the time for some reason but I was the only one at the counter when he walked up. I proceded to do the routine of questions..."how are you doing today...did you find everything...do you have a perks card...." and we just started chatting. He then pulled out a little spiral bound notebook of index cards and asked me to right down just my first name and the place we met and something that I needed prayer for. He does this everywhere he goes. Truely he is a disciple for Christ and he doesn't put limits on the idea that just cuz you work in a Christian store doesn't mean you don't need just as much prayer. So he told me how he does this everywhere he goes...just asking peoples first names and jotting down where he met them and asking what they need prayer about. Then we finished everything up and he left and came back in with a book for me to read about the birth of Christ. It is just a small "pamphlet" called "She kissed the face of God". It just so happens that there wasn't anyone else in line at the time and he asked if he could just pray for me right then and there before he left. So there we are ... me just working and this gentleman prays for me. At first I have to admit I was a little weirded out but it definately made me smile when he left to think that he creates encounters like that everywhere he goes.

Then just the other day I was helping another lady. She came up to the register and had one of our Barabus bears in her hand. (Those are the bears that we offer to sell but are also providing the opportunity to others to "adopt" them and send them to local foster children over the holiday). Well normally if they bring up a bear to the counter they are wanting to take it home and if they just bring up a little card they are just going to make a donation. This lady brought the bear up and laid it down but said she wanted to adopt it ... so I scanned the appropriate bar code and then just set the bear aside. We were finishing up the transaction and I asked if there was anything else I could help her with and she said she actually wanted to pray over there bear before she left. She held the bear and prayed outloud to God to just bless the child that recieved that bear. Can you believe it?!?!?!?! She could have easily just made her donation and walked out the door paying the "debt she owes society" by helping out the needy but she wanted to make sure that not only did a child receive that bear but that that child would be blessed and understand the love of Jesus showing through that.

So yeah, works been a pain but God is definately sending people around me that are expressing the real meaning of service to Christ and humility and overall reliance on the Lord. So pray for those people that God continues to use them whereever they go.

Also, If you could keep another co-worker of mine in your prayers. This is actually one of the only ones I had found it harder to get along with before but tragedy has taken a toll on her. She was in a horrible car accident the other night (her birthday) as she was heading to work from the Cedarville area with her roommate...later to meet with another c0-worker for dinner. The girl I know was driving (don't know the exact cause) but her friend died at the scene and she had some serious damage to her jaw. So not that it is a hard enough situation that this is all happening at all but that it was her birthday and around Christmas making it a very hard thing to get past in the future.

I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday.

STILL Smiling : D

Ok, so I guess I've just gotten into the habit of updating my journal in the morning. By the time I get home and "settled" down for the evening I'm ready to go to bed anymore. GEEEZE I sound old. (J/K)

Anyway, I haven't updated in a while but I can't go all the way back to the beginning and start all over. I will, however, tell you that this are still going great with me and PC. In fact, he is gaining his name more and more.

I was so happy that PC decided to come to the cantata last night. I guess he never "committed" to it before because he didn't want to just say "yeah, I'll be there and show up."....he wanted it to be more of a surprise. But I have to say, when he finally told me he was going to come to the Christmas Cantata last night I was pretty scared. Just because I was worried about what he would think about "everything". We got there early because I had to practice with the rest of the choir so he got a chance to meet Piano Man and TV Dinner who were there to watch the performance. I think things went over pretty well. I was nervous about just dropping him off...like hey you don't know any of these people sitting around you but thanks for coming. But it went well and I guess they had a good time...talking about me : P. During the performance I found myself trying read his facial expressions the entire time but it was dark so I couldn't tell and he keeps a straight face a lot of the time anyway. I wasn't intentinoally not smiling...I was just nervous in my own way.

Anyway, we did the show and it turned out great. All the soloists and "mini" choirs were right on target. If they "messed" up they got back on without anyone noticing. I kinda felt a little shacky for the first part of my song and I'm pretty sure you could tell but I gained more confidence as it went on and the choir joined in. And while I knew that PC wouldn't say anything bad about my song I was still nervous about singing in front of him for the first time.

Right after it was over I went down to see him....he just had this serious look on his face like he was trying to hold back a smile though. I just smiled at him and after like 5 minutes of getting it out of him he finally told me what he thought. Can I just say I never smiled sooooooo big. I've received a lot of compliments before but I guess for him to say what he did made me feel so special. I told him it meant soo much to me that he said that because I was so nervous about what he would think before hand. And while I'm not going to tell you everything he said I will give you a peek....he said when he saw me get up to go sing the solo he just felt so excited and proud that I was his girl : D

Enough about that...finally we decided we should mingle with other people other than ourselves and Crazy Guy came over and started talking with us. Crazy Guy and PC are the same age so I guess it should have been expected that they seemed to get along so well. It was just funny that Crazy Guy was bringing up "memories" and weird ones from when he took me to prom my senior year. They seemed to get along great and any time I was in the room I had this creepy feeling that they were talking about me and looking at me...and any time I would turn around they would at least act like they meant for me to hear what they were saying. Oh well....I'm glad PC got along well with him.

Then we had dinner with Elvis, HBM, Pita Pocket, Pepto, and Homeslice. That was fun. Pita Pocket kept getting a kick out of saying "HEY Stacy"....and then he would laugh because the rest of us would laugh. Then he kept doing it over and over again. Then Pepto was like...hey say my name....and he looks at her and says "HEY Stacy"...that lasted for a while but then he moved on. I was funny. Before too long Pita Pocket was under the table tapping at my knee through the table cloth...and any time I would get him he would screech....he thought that was a fun game for a while too. I think he liked PC...he never really talked at him but he kept looking at him and then toward the end he was trying to get PC to chase him.

Finally after dinner we headed out and talked for a while before he took me back home. Can I just say again....that I reeeealllllyyyy like this guy.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll ttyl

Shower of Blessings

Hey everyone,

I hope you all are doing GRRRREAT. Sorry I didn't post anything last night. I was pretty tired by the time I came in and I needed to spend a little time with Pepto before I headed to bed, and I figured I could update my journal later.

Yesturday was a good day. I ended up staying at my parents house Monday night because I was gonna have to get up early in the AM to take Dad to his eye doctor follow up appt. from his surgery on Monday. Luckily I was able to get up without much trouble at all and get him over there. He was pretty funny though because he was sooooo excited about all the stuff he could see that he wasn't able to see clearly before even with glasses (kinda makes you scared that he was even driving huh? : ) )...anyway, as we are driving around yesturday morning he's reading road signs too me and pretty much anything within sight. Soon he started apologizing for being so "weird" and I said as long as you are in a good mood ... and I guess as long as no one else is around either ( i didn't say that though : P ). After his appt. we went to Bob Evan's for breakfast and got to talk about some stuff. Its funny how this eye surgery may have helped to give him hope that the stuff he has gone through in the past came be conquered as far as spiritual stuff is concerned ( weird association but it isn't for you all to understand anyway). So I was telling him how I have seen God really blessing me in many different areas since I "gave up" my role on the praise team TO HIM. But like I said before, by no means am I giving up the gift that I feel he has given me...I am just putting it in his hands and letting go of something that I was starting to hold on for myself. But like I was saying...God truely has just been pouring out soooo many blessings which, for me, reaffirms that for right now...I made the right choice.

After that I headed back to the house to take care of some laundry and relax a little before meeting HBM at Tim Horton's. We had a lot of fun this evening. Of course I feel like I talked her ear off about PC this and PC that....its just the newest exciting thing that is happening in my life and right now no one is tired of hearing about it (YET). She also gave my a b-day present...it was pretty smelling candles. I was super excited about that because I like candles. We haven't had then lite here at the house for a while because we keep forgetting to get lighters. We finished up about 10 till and I called PC to meet up with him. I was just thinking he would come over and we could chill at the house. WEll much to my surprise...he was like..."Hey...you want to go to dinner with my parents"...ok so I guess I deserved it because I didn't tell him about my parents going to the same church as me until well...Sunday morning.

It turns out his Step Dad was not in a very good mood so he didn't join us but PC, myself and PC's mom went to a chinese place in Xenia for dinner. We had a good time just chatting about where they had grown up and what Josh was like as a kid and the pets they had and stuff. She seemed really nice and I think she likes me...I guess we'll just see what I find out from PC next time I see him (which will probably be tonight). I know we've been seeing eachother a lot lately but once school starts up for winter quarter...I'm going to be super busy with my 18 credit hours on top of working...so I want to get to know him as much as possible now. Anyway...enough with the tangent. After dinner we just drove around and talked some more. He took me by a couple of places that he used to live growing up in the Fairbornia area. Then when we got back to his place where my car was...i ended up getting lost in his plat trying to get out and taking about 5-10 minutes longer getting home than it probably should have. Oh well...it was dark.

Well I'm heading off to work. Doing the 10 -6 shift and then back here for the evening. Probably doing something PC and or PC and Pepto so the two of them can get to know each other too.

I hope you all have a great day.

Peace out!

What a GRRRRREAT Day

Ok....well I had a whole thing typed out to tell the story of today but you can tell from the title that it went over well. I'm sorry I"m too tired to type it again but it looks like I've just expereience the whole thing with the computer not adequately posting my entry (sad ... I know).

Hopefully i'll have more energy to type tomorrow and fill you all in. But for any of you who didn't pick up on it already...it is official now.

Have a great night.

Update #2

Alright

Now, I want you ALL to be on your best behavior tomorrow. PC called me this evening and affirmed that he would be joining me at church in the AM. So, of course, if I wasn't nervous enough before I'm even more nervous now. Lets just say, this encounter will be interesting in meeting all of you and my parents for the first time as well as everyone else at church who's been asking me if I've been dating anyone ... all the time. So please please please please please pray for this event tomorrow. I'm really excited and really nervous and I just want God to be glorified in it all.

Peace out

Update

Ok girls...since you all are being so nosey about this whole thing : )... I thought I could go into a little more detail. However, I must preface this with the fact that I told PC (i'll call him Prince Charming for now until I can think of a better name) that I was telling you all about this and how excited you all were and he got really really embarased. So please, when you meet him don't say anything about it....he thought it felt weird that he has an audience....so to speak.

So, where to begin. I get off work at 6:00 and give PC a call. He was already on his way but he asked if he could "TAKE" me to dinner before we headed to the movie. Emphasis on the work "TAKE" because I offered to pay for my own and he said he wouldnt' have asked to TAKE me if he was expecting me to pay. So anyway, we went to dinner and had some more great discussion. Then we decided to head to the theater and when we pulled up we saw that it was packed out...so we decided to head to showcase cinemas to see if CoN was showing there and still open. This whole time attempting to find and earlier movie so that we could get back sooner since he had to be at work earlier. Well we went to Showcase and all the movies had already started so we decided not to stay there. He saw this table with King Kong t-shirts that you could get for free by filling out a cc application. He didn't want the credit card but he DID want the t-shirt. He has a thing for monster movies. Anyway, so we are sitting in the lobby at showcase while he is filling out this application and he goes up to turn it in...and the lady gives us two shirts. Yeah, I got a shirt because He filled out the application. (woohoo)...then he kept giving me a hard time saying I should give him my t-shirt so that he could wear it while he was washing the other one. I told him NO of course claiming that I earned it while waiting for him to finish the application. Then he jokingly suggested we should where them out sometime when we are somewhere together.

Well we start heading to Danbury to see a movie...all the while...its getting later and later and by the time we get there we end up seeing Corpse Bride showing at 9:15 (two hours after he said he didn't want to see anything past a 7:40 showing). Anyway, we were early to the theater so we go to sit down and have like 20 minutes to talk before the show starts. Again, chatting and just getting to know each other...now getting comfortable enough to pick on eachother and so that was a lot of fun.

After the movie we were heading to the car and we get in and I'm shivering like crazy. Well I already told you about how he offered me his coat....so yeah, that left me just amazed. He truely is a gentleman and that is really nice.

Like I said he might go to church with me in the morning. I'm really really hoping that he doesn't have to work so he'll be able to come. I've been praying about it a lot and I'm hoping that he enjoys it and feels really welcome there...which I'm sure there won't be too much of a problem with (but you know there is always room to worry). So I'm waiting to hear from him this evening.

Ok, so there you have it...that was the evening. Granted there were a few other little things here and there that I may have left out...but those are stories for face to face...sorry.

Ok, hope you all are doing well. Have a great night.

Can I Just Say YAY

Well the second date went awesome...just like the first date. And the story is just as long as the first date one but since it is late enough now...i'm not going to go into all the details (sorry ladies)...but I'm sure I can spare a few in person when I see you next. But just so you know he proved himself to be quite a gentleman...the biggest thing being that he offered his coat in the freezing cold car for me to warm up with.

Anyway, we didn't get to see Narnia but after three tries we did finally go see a movie at the Danbury theater by the Dayton Mall. Poor guy has to get up at the crack of dawn to go stand post at the base tomorrow morning so we couldn't stay out too late...although 11:00 is pretty late when you have to wake up at 4am.

So now I'm here getting ready for bed so I can head to work..yet again in the morning. He may be going to church with me on Sunday...(Let me repeat ... MAY be)....so you all may get to meet him depending on how things go.

I'm off to bed now...definately sleepy.

Have a great night and a great day tomorrow.

Stacy

Thursday

Ok, so no incredibly exciting stuff happened today. But like Pepto said...I can't complain cuz the last couple of days have been seriously AWESOME. I woke up early and did Tae Bo for the first time in a long time. Boy have I gotten out of shape but I don't have any excuses now since I have a TV in my private room for me to be able to do it every morning if I have to.

So I worked another 8 hour day today and we were really really busy. It didn't bother me AS much as Monday, but I guess we were handling it better and I had some other stuff on my mind if you know what I mean. I'm excited about going to the movies tomorrow. Now that I hear it may be sold out though...I don't know what we are going to end up doing. Hopefully he remembers. I think I got really excited about how the first date went but one of the real tests comes with the 2nd date. I guess I'm just so paranoid that seeing how amazing it went yesturday, something bad might still happen. Now I don't WANT anything bad to happen. After re-living the events of yesturday in my head today (even the awkward ones at times) I've decided it really would be awesome if things worked out with this guy. I also know I need to keep a good head on my shoulds and realize that we need to get to know eachother a little more before I think too far into it. But I must say with as much as we talked about yesturday...there isn't a whole lot left (j/k).

Anyway, I'm just sitting here chillin' for now.

What a day : D

Well I know you all are just dying to hear about how things went. And to make what could be a VERY looooong story short...I'll just say I think it went great. We met for lunch at 11:30 and didn't end the "date" until 4:30...yeah you read it right (who would have thought that a first date could last 5 hours) Its almost like it came straight off of that dumb "Dating Story" on TLC ... except the overall impression was MUCH better than what those end up like. We had such a good time just talking about so much stuff. That is what I liked most...he asked questions and answered questions...and asked for clarifications on questions so that he wouldn't answer it the "wrong" way and leave me wondering too much.

One thing is that he said he's been keeping his eye on me since he first saw me at the bookstore...our first encounter if you may. He said the first thing he noticed about me and liked is that I was able to laugh even when this complete stranger was "picking" on me. He kept saying over and over about how even though we don't carry exactly the kind of music he is into he keeps coming back...to see me. He'd been planning ways to get my attention...like the time before last when he came in and didn't tell me his name. He was like...hey thats the first thing you asked me when we went back and started talking yesturday. So he is definately thinking.

So needless to say he definately made me feel "special" and as if he took a real interest in me. He was definately open and honest about a lot of stuff while also mentioning the need to keep me hanging on some stuff so we have more to talk about next time. Which there will be. We already planned on going to see Chronicles of Narnia on Friday when i get off work. So I'm excited. We'll see how a second date goes...hopefully as well as the first.

HOLY COW...YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE THIS

Alright...so if you all read my journal yesturday, I just did NOT have a good day at work on Monday. So, of course going into work, I was a little nervous...not knowing what to expect. But that combined with just my overall self esteem dwindeling...because I'm a GIRL of course...I was just praying that God would bless me today and just make me feel beautiful in some way...you know what I mean.

OK, now I'll go back a month or so ago. There was this guy that came into the store and was looking at some music and was "giving me a hard time" that we don't carry hard enough rock for me. We don't carry the music that he likes...blah, blah, blah. Well he was being "nice" about it and all but I was just hanging out and talking to him...doing a little bit of flirting...but c'mon...can you blame me. So he came in a few weeks later and sought me out and asked me if I remembered him and I was like yeah...and we talked some more but nothing much. Then about a month after that he came in but I didn't recognize him at first...he had cleaned up a bit...he was looking at me and then said something about the music so I figured out that it was him. And I was like...hey you can't keep coming in here and picking on me if you aren't going to even tell me your name. So, he leaves without telling me his name...and I'm thinking ok...whatever

Well today I saw him and I hadn't seen him in a while. I was doing something else so I didn't get a chance to go over right away and when I looked out again he was gone. But then next thing I know he is in line. So I just start conversation saying...hey haven't seen you here in a while ...etc. Then he jumps out of line and comes over and talks to me asking me about a certain CD and stuff so we walk over to the music section and start talking. Then we just started about all kinds of music and what not. He was talking about cd's of groups that he had had at one time but got rid of because of their content and such. He mentioned Pearl Jam(which I had heard of) and Alice in Chains. I had no idea who that was so I was like...I've never heard her...to which he responded with laughter. He said well its a band with all guys...I felt really dumb and he was like how old are you anyway. I told him I was 22 and he said well you are only 4 years younger than me so it shouldn't be that bad. We kept talking some more...all the time I'm supposed to be working. I told him well he should come in more often to look around...and he said "well if I come in more often it won't be to look around"...I said "what?"...totallynot getting it. Then he just flat out says.."ok, I'm horrible at this flirting thing" At this point I"M BEAMING because here in front of me I have someone who is hitting on me...NEVER happened before. Then he looks at my hand and asks about the ring on my finger. He asked what it was for and I just said it says faith...no commmitment to anyone or anything like that and he says well you can't do that it scares guys away. (smile gets even bigger)

So eventually he's like...so would you ever like to meet outside of here sometime. And I quickly responded you pick the time and place and I'll be there....he was a little hesitent because I told him HE had to pick it...but then I quickly said that the guy I used to date didn't plan much of anything at all. So next thing I know he says "I'm off tomorrow, would you like to do lunch or something." So we have plans to meet at DonPablo's tomorrow for lunch at 11:30. This is my first "blind date" ever. (technically)

What's even better is that when he was checking out with one of my other co-workers...the guy that I work with was making fun of me and I was like "you are such a jerk". And Flirt (what we'll call him for now) quickly responds with..."it pays to be a jerk sometimes...sometimes that is the best way to get their attention...thats how I got you to remember me"

So yeah...the rest of the day didn't matter at all to me. I ended up staying an hour and a half later and it didn't matter at all...I was on cloud nine. So now I just have to make it through the evening and into tomorrow. I"m hoping that this is at least fun if nothing else. And who knows what could happen.

So if you all could keep me in your prayers that would be awesome. Thanks so much

Have a great night!

Retail forever???...maybe not

So today was the beginning of a very loooong week at work. I'm getting 40 hours this week, which is nice for the paycheck so I can pay off some credit cards, but its definately a test of my patience. Now, granted, today could have just been an off day, but I couldn't help but think all day long...do I really want to make a career out of this. I totally don't mind working the "9-5" type job, but I'm still looking for God's direction as to whether or not it will be retail.

All that being said, don't get me wrong...I love working for FCS. I like everyone I work with (on most days) and the company overall is pretty nice. In fact, if I could get a home office job with them it would be the best of both worlds in my opinion. I really wouldn't mind staying in the company. I just don't know how my boss does it. She puts in sometimes 50 hours a week at that store, coming in early and leaving really really late making up for the stuff that all of us couldn't keep up with with all the customers we were helping all day long.

Other than that today wasn't too bad. But remember that list that I had on a previous journal of my pet peeves...yeah all of them were pushed today. I didn't get a lunch until an hour and a half before my 8 hour shift was over. I wasn't planning on eating out but I just needed to get out of that place so I ended up walking over to CiCi's to have some alone time. I was so used to that over the last few days that finally being thrown back into reality was pretty shocking.

Well thats about all I have for now. Nothing else too exciting...trust me you all would know if there was anything else.

I'm probably going to go to bed at a decent time tonight so i can be refreshed for another long day tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and I emailed my dad and asked if it would be ok to take one of the small tv's from their house and bring it here to put in my room (technically it is mine anyway)...I've decided if I put a tv and vcr in there then I dont' have an excuse to not to Tae bo and get into shape. The next pair of jeans I buy will NOT be a size bigger.

Anyway, hope everyone else is doing good.

TTYL

Another Day

Well I got up and headed to work this morning. I managed to allow myself to forget that this is only the second weekend after Thanksgiving...therefore I wasn't expecting such a huge crowd. Normally I do ok, with busyness...but today I realized that I'm only ok if I get to stay behind the counter. When I'm out on the floor I feel like there is a firing squad in front of me (beside me, behind me). Just for all of you out there Christmas shopping who haven't worked retail...here's some advice. When it comes to asking for help keep these in mind:
1) Don't ignore the line of 50 people and just cut up to the cashier and interupt them while they are obviously in conversation with a customer to ask them a question. At least wait for the end of the conversation for goodness sake if your gonna cut in line anyway.
2) When you ask questions, speak above a wisper and clearly. There is nothing more frustrating than having to ask a customer to clarify a billion times what they said because they don't speak up. Its like the person they are shopping for is standing right next to them and they want it to be a surprise or something.
3)When it comes to being on the floor and you see how an employee is helping someone else and says, sure I'll take care of that right now and starts to walk away...don't stop them and ask the obvious question "ARE YOU BUSY"...sometimes I feel like saying...No, I just like running around looking like a chicken with their head cut off (for all you Blue Collar Comedy Fans...Here's your sign)

I know I"m in customer service and its main focus is to please the customer. But come on...be serious...these are the types of people who get on your nerves (as a fellow shopper) too. So lets take a stand against irritating shoppers and say "NO MORE...you can wait your turn, you can speak up, and you can obviously see that I'm busy so please just be patient and avoid asking the obvious question.

Ok, enough with that rampage. Hopefully it was funny for some of you. So yeah, I worked today and my dad came and changed my windshield wiper blades to the winter ones while I was working...so that was nice. After work, I ran back to the house to change, grab a bite to eat, and pick up a few things that I decided I needed to return. I just have to accept the fact that not everyone is going to get christmas presents this year and those who do, well they aren't going to incrediblly priceless...unless well they cost next to nothing.

Then I decided to head over to the hospital to visit Sara, Brian and new baby Abby. I didn't know that the entire family was going to be there at the same time. But I guess what else should I have expected. I saw the proud, grandparents (both sets) and uncles. I hadn't seen those guys in a while so it was fun to chat (briefly) with them. I spent most of time squeezed in a corner by the bed talking to Sara. She asked if I wanted to hold her...and of course I said yes. Although, I've never held a baby so young...and tiny. She was precious and all bundled up in her blankets and hat. (HBM...Sara told my I would make you jealous because you didn't get to hold her when you went to visit her yesterday...but don't worry you'll have plenty of chances.)

Then I went to Meijer to pick up a couple of odds and ends. And now I'm back at the house spending another exciting night alone. I'm a little frustrated because Michigan said he would call me sometime this week to hang out in the evening and I have yet to hear from him. I was probably getting a little too excited about the fact that he may want to at least be friends again. I guess it just still needs some more time. But like I might have said before, I think I just want to have an opportunity to hang out with guys more. No specific reason...well maybe one...but even some of my closer guy friends who are already taken would be fun to hang out with.

Ok, I'm gonna get back to my uneventful evening. I hope you all are having fun. I hope everyone has a good day at church tomorrow morning.

TTYL,
Stacy

(P.S. For those of you wondering about Pepto, she is doing better. I talked to her on the phone this evening. She is staying in Circleville for another evening to hang out with family before they head back to Vegas. She won't be at church tomorrow AM but she'll be at crucible and Choir practice tomorrow night)

Woohoo!!!

Ok..so while this is my second post within the hour...I just wanted to express my excitement that I finally figured out how to post my picture. YAY!!!!

Dido

Well...today looked a lot like yesturday...except yesturday I went to work for a little while.

Yep, I got up early and headed to Kettering for my Dr. Apt. just to check up on the stuff from this summer. Nothing dramatic. Just a follow up of sorts to see how I'm responding to the "meds" that he put me on. Basically I told him that it is doing its job but it still isn't helping with some of the major issues, in fact to some extent I feel like its causing me to gain some weight back. Not hardly as bad as I used to be, but considering my ultimate fear of gaining all my weight back ... even a little makes me nervous. The only new jeans I want to buy are smaller ones. But granted I guess my exercise habits have been lacking severely due to lack of motivation so if I find a way to get back into that habit then maybe I'll start loosing again.

So anyway, enough with that. Like I said today was uneventful...for me at least. Congrats to Sara, Brian, and Abby...as well as the proud Grandparents, aunts and uncles. I'm so excited for her as is everyone else I'm sure. I'll have to apologize that...unlike many of the other journals that I've been reading lately...I don't have any interesting stories about little boys astonishment with their male anatomy. But I must admit...however sickening it was for me as a non-mother, to sit here and read...it was pretty amusing (in that weird twisted way)...and yes, they will be in therapy for the rest of their lives when they find a journal entry posted on the web some day written by their moms about their experiences in the bathtub, etc.

Ok, so moving on. This evening was nice. I ended up going to dinner with my dad and having a pretty good "heart to heart" conversation. Since I've moved out we've tended to have those a little mroe often. Granted we still have plenty of arguments but tonight was nice. I'll spare him the embaracement in what he refered to our conversation as being though....however funny it may have been at the time. Just keep him in your prayers.

After that we were gonna run to wal-mart to pick up a few things. Yeah , I know I had the whole day to go there but I didn't. It's bad enough tackling the crowds this time of year, let alone doing it on your own. So we were heading to Wal-mart with about an hour before my next evening activity and it took us like 15 minutes to get half way there...when it should have taken us 15 minutes to get there all together. There was so much traffic and within less than a mile I saw three cop cars. So we hoped on the highway and headed back to the house.

I went to this thing called Outpour at Apex this evening. Essentially this is a part of their college ministry. It really makes me think of Crucible at Bethany but in a much larger context. It's kind of a time of worship that you really would never see on a Sunday morning. Granted there is a lot more personal things you can do at crucible that you wouldn't be able to accomplish here because of so many people(thats why I like them both), but it was still nice to worship with so many people getting into it and enjoying Gods presense. There was a strings quartet from Cedarville that played some Christmas songs and then played along with a piano, guitar a three vocalists for worship. Let me tell you....it was beautiful. They did two of my most favorite worship songs...How Great is Our God (by Chris Tomlin)...and Wonderful Maker (by Jeremy Camp). Now I had already decided long ago that whenever I get married I want to play those songs at my wedding...well tonight hammered that in even more, the strings were just so beautiful to listen to and you would have never thought they would have mixed so well in worship.

The main point of the talk was about God desiring so much to be with us. We went through the entire bible "almost" and pulled out scripture that talks about Gods desire to live in and among us. They also mentioned how the Aramaic (I think) translation of Lord...when pronounced almost sounds like Yahweh. Its like you are taking a breath...as if even in speaking about God we are just breathing his name. Then we ended the service with a candle lighting and how it represents God coming and living among us and how we are to be a light to the world ( you know..the same thing you hear all the time but constantly need reminding of because we all too often forget). So it seems pretty random, but educational non-the-less. I think thats why I like things like Crucible and Outpour and stuff like that. Because its so different from the almost checklist of ways that we've gotten into doing church so it makes you think more about what is actually being said instead of anticipating what is coming next. I also think God is really just challenging me in the way I view worship. Becaus for so long, I was one of those people ...not against change but afraid of change...if you know what I mean. And now I desire it. So thats cool.

Well now I'm just relaxing here at the house for the rest of the evening. Homeslice took some of her friends to a coffee house for a jazz night deal. I didn't go because I had already made other plans, and I didn't want to risk driving in downtown dayton's oregon distrist by myself at night when I had no idea where I was going. Apparently they are coming back here to have cake later. I don't know how much later or how many "they's" there are but hopefully I'll be able to get some rest before I head to work in the morning.

Good luck to everyone auditioning tomorrow. Just remember what its for!

Isn't It Ironic

Ok, so the reason for my post...
I titled my journal "Life's an Adventure" when in all actuality...my life is super boring right now. For a while so many exciting things were happening, like God was showing me so much. Now, nothing is happening. Part of it may have to do with the fact that I'm not "seeking" Him as fervently as I was while God was speaking to me. Actually, that is probably exactly the reason. Either way, not that anything bad is happening in my life...NOTHING is happening at all.

Such is the life of a single college senior. I've seriously spent the last few nights just sitting here at the house by myself watching TV and knitting. (Side note: if anyone knows of a nice, funny, handsome guy you want to hook up on a date, let me know....just kidding : ))Now I know that many of you mom's out there are probably saying "ARE YOU KIDDING ME....I WOULD KILL FOR A CHANCE TO DO NOTHING" I can see where you are coming from but its frustrating because I'm either super busy during the quarter with too much to do and hardly any time to hang out with people, or during the break and absolutely nothing to do.

Well I don't have a whole lot to talk about right now. After all...nothing has happened.

Now watch, after I publish this journal entry my life will go into super fast mode and I won't have time for anything. I guess ... in the long run...i need to just enjoy the time of rest while I have it. Its just super hard for someone who's used to being always on the go.

I hope you all have had a good day. I'll ttyl