Nancy and Zelda

I have been attending church here in Tahlequah regularly since the first of the year. And though I still want to check out some other churches, I have really enjoyed going here and just getting back into the routine of being at church.

To me this blog is funny and also a little sad. I think that will become more apparent as you read on.

The associate pastor at my church, Nancy, announced at the beginning of the year that she would be moving on from her position here to be near family in Austin. And while this is sad for the congregation, this is a pretty common occurrence in the Methodist church. Ministers come and go in our churches a lot, but it has never really bothered me. For the most part, it has allowed me to worship with different people and learn from different points of view. It is not always golden, but usually works out.

It just so happened that today was Nancy's last time behind the pulpit. I really like this woman, but probably not for the reasons you would think. I have always enjoyed her sermons, but her actual persona is what I like about her even more. She is a 4'11" very round woman with greying hair, glasses, and a way of speaking that has totally endeared her to me. She speaks very softly with almost a labored tone. Every word is carefully thought out.

The reason I am describing this in such detail is because from the first time I saw her and heard her speak, she reminded me of a character from my favorite horror movie. We all know I love horror movies and Poltergeist is one of the best! In the movie, Zelda Rubenstein plays Tangina, a medium that is brought in to help the Freeling's find their daughter Carol Anne and bring her back from the light. This movie has so many quotable lines. "They're heeeerrrreee. Step away from the light! This house is clear." The last line was famously parodied in Ace Ventura when he says "I have exercised the demons! This house is clear." The way Nancy speaks is remarkably like the way Zelda spoke in most of her roles, namely that of Tangina. Needless to say, I have enjoyed church over the last month for more than one reason. I think I secretly hoped the church would clear out and she would open the double doors into the narthex and say "This house is clear." Sadly, that will never be.

The picture that I have attached to this post is of Zelda Rubenstein. She is a favorite of mine. She is in my favorite horror movie and was also a regular on the show Picket Fences from the mid 90's. This show was a one of kind outrageous mystery. I loved it and never missed an episode, even after they killed her character off. However, when I was searching for the picture earlier today, I came across some sad news. Zelda passed away just three days ago after a long illness. So this post is really to honor two people now. Zelda and Nancy, you will be missed!

Ice and Snow Storm

I experienced my first real ice and snow storm this past weekend in Tahlequah. I have been through an ice storm before in high school and they can be not so fun. That storm left us without power for five days. They had a storm in northeastern Oklahoma a couple of years ago that left people without power for a week or more. Knowing this happened, I did prepare a little, just in case. I went to WalMart last Wednesday night, the night before the storm was suppose to hit. For future reference I need to file that under "not a good idea!" It was a madhouse. Probably second only to new year's eve before Y2K hit! Okay, maybe not that bad, but it was busy! I bought three gallons of water, some batteries for my flashlight, a couple of candles, some non perishables and a six pack. Only the essentials! I have never seen a traffic jam in the candle aisle, but that may be because I have never spent much time in the candle aisle. The shelves were almost empty, but I was able to snag a couple of $5 bigger candles. If the power was going out I was going to have light and a "fresh rain" scent.

As it turns out, the storm was not so bad. We did get about 1.5" of ice and 4" of snow. The roads were pretty bad for awhile, but have mostly cleared now. We still have lots of snow on the ground, but it should be gone in the next few days.

These are a few pictures I took over the last couple of days. One of them is a curved icicle on my satellite dish. I have never seen an icicle do this before so I thought I would post a picture of it. Two are from the front side and back side of my house. One is of a tree that has totally leaned over the fence due to the weight of the ice and snow. I hope it doesn't break! My satellite dish is on the same fence!

Margaret's 30th

I was in Ft Worth this weekend to celebrate Margaret's 30th birthday. For someone who has not been able to say the number 30 over the last couple of months, she seems to be taking to the new age pretty well! We had a great weekend, in fact, one of the best in recent memory. We went out both nights and had a lot of fun, but the best part of the weekend was just hanging out with friends.

For those of you who have met Margaret, you already know this. For those of you who don't, pay attention! Margaret is one of the nicest, funniest, and most caring people I know. She has been my best friend for 10 years! I have been thinking about that over the last few days. Best friends can sometimes come and go. I have a best friend from elementary and a best friend from high school. However, I don't describe Margaret as my "best friend from college." She is just my best friend. Pretty simple!

How many people do you know buy their friends presents for their birthday? Margaret did! Thanks for the lottery tickets Margaret. I won $6 and remembered to cash them in before crossed the OK line!

Now let's talk about the group we had together for this weekend. Everyone, of course, was a friend of Margaret's. Not all of us knew each other though. And while spending three days with new people does not a best friend make, I feel like I have a whole new group of friends to have fun with! People came from far and wide to celebrate. They came from as close as Dallas and Tyler, but as far as Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas and Minnesota. We even had a couple there in spirit from Las Vegas! (we missed you Erin and Derek!)

To friends new and old, I hope we don't wait too long to get together again. Getting together for a reason is sweet, but getting together for no reason at all is priceless.

Here's to you Margaret!

Progress Report

Well it has been a week since I posted my New Year's resolutions, and let's see how I did.

The Good:

I have been to church and have enjoyed going. The sermon this morning was all about temptation. Seems rather fitting to the bad list below. I do want to try at least one other church in town, but I am enjoying it more.

I have also been on top of everything this week! I wouldn't say I have totally stopped procrastinating, but I have made huge headway!

I have been blogging a lot lately. They may not all be winners, but once a week is really no big deal!

The Bad: (this list is noticeably longer!)

I ate out three times this week instead of once. Sue me! Had I not resolved to eat out only once a week, then it probably would have been a lot more. I think I had one lunch this week at Arby's, which I guess is not too bad. (except for the fries) I did have one lunch at a local Tahlequah favorite called Vidalia's. It is a soup/sandwich/coffee shop that is awesome! While you may be thinking that a sandwhich is not too bad, you would be wrong. The Arizona Monster is ridiculously good! An everything bagel sandwich with turkey, bacon, cheese, spicy mayo, onion, lettuce and jalapenos. It is absolutely worth breaking a resolution!

I was not too financially irresponsible this week. I bought only what I needed with the exception of a copy of The Hangover. I did not have to have this, but I sure did want it!

I guess I really did not do that bad. I guess we can wait and see how it goes. I am going to Ft. Worth next weekend for Margaret's Birthdaypalooza, so their is room for lots of resolutions to be broken!

Last year I resolved to quit drinking cokes, which for anyone not from Texas means all soft drinks, not just Coca Cola. It has been over a year since I had a Dr. Pepper, which is my coke of choice. For some reason I decided I wanted one today. I went down to the convenience store and bought one, aware that this is a slippery slope for me. It really was not that good! I think something is wrong with the mix they have going on, because a Dr. Pepper should always be nothing short of amazing. I can rest assured knowing that I will not be picking that habit back up. One Dr. Pepper in 2010 will be enough for me!

Happy Monday

Today was a pretty busy day at work, actually it was a really busy day. I am very thankful that I did not start my day the same way my neighbor did. I do not know the whole story behind what happened this morning, but I am pretty sure that this is the noise that woke me from a sound warm slumber this morning. I did not know it had happened until I left so I took a moment to snap a picture. I will post another one tomorrow. I can snap another picture of what it looks like now. Happy Monday!

Starving Artists

I went to Tulsa this morning for the Starving Artists sale at the Radisson. I have been to one of these sales before and thought it was pretty neat. I'm not a huge art fan, but getting a sofa size oil painting for $59 is strangely appealing. I really like the one I got, although I'm not sure it's for everyone. I got to thinking about it, and it will probably be a painting that I hang in my house until I'm married and "we" decide that it's not something "we" really want in our new house. Until that day comes, I will be enjoying this painting. This is a terrible picture by the way.

New template

I had to go back to the old template. I really want to find a cool template, but I don't really know how. Fortunately, I know a blogmaster named Kristi who might be able to help me find a new one sometime!

Guest blogger

Tonight I have a guest blogger who would like to remain nameless for now. Actually, she said we could call her Jane Austen. I am posting on behalf of her, and it is weird how much her blog and my resolution #4 were being penned at the same time. I hope seeing her words on my blog will make her start her own!

Reasons I go to church:

1. to give thanks to God for all the people, things, and talents with which He has blessed me
2. to pray and beg for forgiveness for thoughts, words and actions that betray the person God made me to be and to become
3. to learn new ways to live my Christian faith on a daily basis
4. to reset my life; a demarcation, a line in the sand if you will, where I can go forward with renewed determination and faith to live as I should

Things that distract me from my church purpose

1. moms who, without leaving the pew, bust out a boob in the middle of Mass for their previously screaming baby to nurse on (p.s. I feel more sorry for their husbands than I do for me, they are probably thinking ‘I can’t even see it at home, and you’re showing all of them???’
2. assholes in Lexuses, Hummers, Jaguars, Mercedes (aaah, Suburbia, how you have materialized everything) who do not merge appropriately, make decisions that can only be explained by the driver’s eyes being inoperative, and who fail to do the I’m-sorry-I-just-cut-you-off, performed-an-unsafe-act, or I-didn’t-see-you wave. (it’s church; be penitent!)
3. the guy who knocked me to the ground because he opened the door without looking and I was on the other side

New Year's Resolutions 2010 Addendum

I would like to add one addendum to the resolutions I just posted. I can hold out on a lot of things in order to meet these resolutions and become the me I preach to be. However, I cannot, I will not be held accountable for these resolutions while in Las Vegas. I totally missed you in 2009, but I'm coming to see you twice this year, perhaps three times. I miss you Vegas!

New Year's Resolutions 2010

I have put off posting these resolutions for quite a while. Maybe it was because I wanted one more week of not being held accountable for the actions I resolved to amend or maybe it has a little to do with resolution number one. I guess you can be the judge of that.

These are my resolutions for 2010:

1. Stop procrastinating! Most of the time procrastinating is not a huge deal. It is, however, always a pain in the ass! Why put something off until the last minute? I'll tell you why! I work better under pressure. It doesn't need to be done right now. I get a thrill from doing things right before they are due. If you, like me, have ever uttered these dreaded phrases, then you are a procrastinator! Just own it. I need to start living my life like I treat my netflix account. When I get a movie in the mail I watch it that night and mail back the next day. Why don't I do that with other tasks and projects? I'm not sure, but it stops here!
2. Get healthy! I know, I know! This is the number one resolution for almost everyone. Why? Because we're fat! I'm not an idiot though. One week on the treadmill does not a Tony Horton commercial make! This resolution is probably the most crucial to me right now. I kind of feel like if I can conquer this hurdle then everything else will fall into place too. Maybe this is naive or vain, but just go with it. I turn 30 this year, and I've got several pounds I would like to leave in my twenties. So how do I go about this? Good question! I think it might involve working out and eating less? I'm pretty sure that's right. Seriously though, I have a treadmill and I am not afraid to use it! My diet has to change drastically. This time of year wreaks havoc on my diet. It is so easy to go to the drive thru when you have just worked a 14 hour day. However, this has to be the first thing to change! FAST FOOD IS THE DEVIL! So what's the plan? It would be easy to say "No more fast food!" but we all know that is not going to happen! But how about this? I can have fast food once a week.....starting tomorrow! But really, I have to stick to this! I have also decided that if I am going to continue to watch TV, then I need to workout while I do it. I zone out watching tv. Anyone who calls me during an episode of Lost or How I Met Your Mother can vouch for that. It stands to reason that I might be able to zone out on the treadmill once I get in front of the tv. I'll keep you posted. I am also the proud owner of the P90X boot camp program. I ordered it three months ago and it is still in the box. (see resolution 1) I don't know that I will start that this week with our busiest week of the Spring coming up, but I WILL start it soon! More to come on that.
3. Be more financially responsible! I have curtailed my frivolous spending a lot over the past several years, but things could certainly be better. The good-I have not used a credit card in over 4 years! The bad-I just spent $50 on all five seasons of Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the Christmas Special. Did I really need that? It was just last week, so survey says YES because I got a great deal. Time will most likely prove me wrong on that one. My car will be paid off in five months, so I need to figure out what to do with the extra money I will be making. I'm thinking right now that I will set up a new savings account and continue to "make payments" to that account so I do not get used to the extra cash flow. The jury is still out on that one. I stop and get a very large iced tea at the convenience store down the street about 5 times a week, sometimes more. With tax, they cost almost a $1.75. This is not a huge expense, but if I do that for an entire year I will have spent $455! This is a conservative estimate too, so let's round it up to $500. I can think of a lot of things I would rather do with $500 than drink iced tea. (Vegas anyone?)
4. Go to church! No more excuses! I love God, and I don't feel that my absence from church has hurt my faith, but I do feel that church is something I desperately need. I loved my church in Panhandle. I was so lucky to have a great church in College Station too. I almost never missed in college, even if I got home from the bar at 3 a.m. Our minister there had a way of preaching that seemed to single me out every time. It was like they followed me around all week and tailor made the sermon for me. I loved it! I have not had the same luck since I left College Station. When I was in Vegas I tried several churches. None of them were what I was looking for. I absolutely love the Methodist church, but in Vegas I even stepped out to a Presbyterian church. That one didn't do the trick either! Then I moved to Corpus Christi. It was a new start, and I tried five different churches, but all of them left me feeling empty. It was a little different in Portales. They only had one Methodist church. The sermons were not bad, but they were not what I was used to hearing either. To tell you the truth, I let a petty thing keep me from going. I am used to all churches having a moment of fellowship where you greet the people around you, shake hands, and exchange pleasantries. This is a very common practice in most churches I have attended. The key word is "moment." In Portales the moment was more like halftime. For starters, it was in the middle of the service, which breaks up what we already have going. That moment should come at the beginning or the end of the service, not in the middle. It's distracting! The moment should also be short, 30 seconds tops! I timed it once in Portales and the "moment" went on for eleven and a half minutes. Seriously? That happened more than once. It totally turned me off from going to Portales FUMC. I have been to church a few times here, and have found minute things about the service I do not like, but I have to start going again! It stands to reason that the more I go the more people I will meet and the more I will like the church overall. Just like Dr. Spalding's algebra II class, I will get something out of it, it just might not be apparent to me for a few years.
5. I have to blog at least once a week! Okay, you are reading this right now, so I have to be held accountable for it. Several people over the holidays told me that they read my blog, and while that astounds me (!), I think I should occasionally have something new for them to read. Once a week is not a big task. I enjoy blogging, and I am still amazed other people read it, so this resolution should not be hard to keep. (famous last words, right?)

So these are the resolutions. A friend sent me a list of some random dude's New Year's resolutions and they were hilarious. I would post them, but some of them are kind of vulgar. If our lists were given an MPAA rating his would be R. I think mine would be PG, although I did use the word "ass" once. (actually, twice now, sorry, maybe I'm PG-13) If you want the list I can email it to you. Mine are no where near as hilarious, but probably just as important to me.

So have we learned anything? You know I will be blogging more because of resolutions 5 and 1. I will have more to blog about because of resolution 2. I will have more time to blog because I am not out spending money because of resolution 3. You see where I'm going with this? It all boils down to the blog. This blog has the power to save me.......or destroy me! Come on 2010, let's do this!

New Year's Eve

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and has had a good 2010 thus far. I know I did. I drove to Ft Worth Wednesday night to be with friends for the new year. I drove in after work so I did not get to Margaret's until a little after 10:00. Dana and Lauren met there too, and we all sat around the table at Margaret's apartment drinking and laughing until the wee hours of the morning. Topics of conversation: dating, drinking, work, and a sock monkey hat I got from my aunt. I will be posting pictures of this hat along with "the story" very soon. We had a great time and then got up in the morning and did it all over again!

On the morning of the eve of the new year we slept in a little, which was pretty nice. Everyone then got ready and we headed out to have a bite to eat. We went to Flipz, which has become somewhat of a tradition since we have been getting together in Ft Worth. Rather than order separate meals, we ordered a bunch of appetizers for everyone to share, which of course meant we ordered way too much. We ordered a Flipz fireball, pickle chips, sliders, fish tacos, boneless wings, another order of sliders and topped it off with four tall Blue Moons. (and an additional Blue Moon for me) We made a valiant effort, but we could not finish everything we ordered. An hour later it definitely became a maalox moment.

We ran some other errands during the day including dropping off my karaoke machine at the house where we going to party later that night. We got it hooked up to make sure everything was working properly. Much to my dismay one of the microphones did not work. Not a huge deal since I have two microphones, but the one that did not work was the cordless, which can sometimes be a lot of fun if someone adds a little showmanship to their karaoke number.

We went back to the house and said goodbye to Lauren, who was going on to a party with some of her friends in Dallas. We watched The Hangover (hilarious) and The Goods (not great, but certainly worth seeing). Then we got ready and headed back over to the house to go to Dana's friends party. Pat and Ashley were the couple that were throwing the party. I had previously been to one party at their house and it was nothing short of awesome. It was earlier in the year, so it was much warmer then. They have a pool and hot tub, and had a large spread of food and drinks outside by the pool. They had rented a beer tub, which was basically a small tank that horses or cattle would drink out of, except in this case it was full of iced down beer. Pat told me I would be doing him a favor that night if I drank all of the Miller Lite out of the tub because they were Coors fans. Challenge accepted! I was not able to complete the task, but I gave it the old college try. Needless to say, I did not drive home that night.

Anyway, back to the NYE party. The party was set up inside because it was much to cold to be partying outside. However, this did not stop one partygoer from jumping in the pool. We did not know he did it till he came back in. I guess he stripped down to his underwear, because when he came back in he had put his clothes back on, but sort of looked like he wet his pants due to the wet underwear. This gave us multiple reasons to laugh! They had rented a margarita machine again, but this was definitely not your mom's margarita machine. It looked just like the one they use at Chili's for frozen margaritas, and they tasted like restaurant quality margaritas too.

The biggest treat was one we noticed right away. Another friends of the party hosts had heard about the microphone debacle. Did he ever take care of it! We walked in to see two large speakers flanking each side of the tv, a sound mixer next to the karaoke machine and four mic stands with four microphones set up in the living room. With my mic, that gave us 5 mics total. It's official, I will have to trick out my karaoke machine the same way from now on! I better start saving some money!

As with any party, people were slow to get on the karaoke machine. Everyone usually gets a little nervous, but fortunately Margaret and Dana were there to rock the mics! They sang several songs and so did Chad, they guy who jumped in the pool. I sang a few too, but it really wasn't until after midnight that the karaoke party picked up. My group took over the mics and started singing song after song. Ashley was picking the songs and they were all the crowd pleasing staples that you think of when listening to karaoke. Sweet Home Alabama. Margaritaville. Sweet Caroline. Ashley even gave us a few challenges too. She put in Young MC's Bust a Move to test me, and if I do say so myself, I passed with flying colors! Regardless of how we sounded, we all had a blast! We headed home a little after 3 am. It was a great night! I have had some not so fun New Year's Eves, so nights like these certainly make you appreciate the fun ones.

I'm looking forward to what 2010 has to bring. I know Jan 1 is just another day, but it certainly represents much more. The start of a new year is an opportunity to change many things. Margaret and I joked last week about resolving to remain the same for the next year. We had a misunderstanding about some new year's resolutions and she thought I was resolving to keep things at status quo. You really don't need to resolve to do nothing, you can just do nothing! That may not make a lot of sense, but it's late, so I'm leaving it! Goodnight!