The world wide web just ate my interview!!  I'm so aggrivated I could spit nails! (famous quote from my father!).

I can't take credit for this picture, it was passed to me on a email.  After reading myglasshouse's last post, I thought she would appreciate it for it's finer points!  There's just some things in life that coffee can't fix...but duct tape can!!!

It's officially one of those, "You know you're a Redneck if..." things. 
Enjoy!

I was listening to a testimonial on Dr. Laura today how a woman's marriage and family life improved just by the simple act of hugging her husband and stating one positive thing about her day when he first got home from work.  (Background info - she was a SAHM who is a pediatrician, thus not using her skills...got really negative and constantly nagged her hubby & kids). 

The testimonial reminded me of a time when life was hard, shortly after my mother died very suddenly at the very young age of 48.  I always tended to be a very positive person...but this tragedy caused me to be numb, negative and just a bit callous.  That was until a friend sent me my "Blessings book".  She gave me a fun journal and the homework assignment to write down 5 blessings each night before I went to bed.  Initially the blessings were for past things...time spent with mom, fun things we did, etc.  And eventually they grew to little things that just blessed my day!  In about 2-3 weeks my entire demeanor had changed back to my peaceful, much more positive self.  Now I still had moments of grief...but typically I could just remember how God's blessed me and bounce back to my positive side.

So Dr. Laura and then Queenie's post compelled me to write and post my Blessing's/Happy things list for today! 

1. My 1st Anniversary with Hubby - April 8th - Easter Sunday.
For all
you single gals out there, God can resurrect ANY dead dream!!
  

2. My new couch and ottoman!!
The title of the color - Mocha Espresso....need I say more??

3. Sunny days & spring flowers! Hello TULIPS!!! 
(Even this cold snap is okay cuz you know it's gonna be gone soon!)
 

4. Spring/Easter Break - 2 days off work with a weekend in the middle! YAHOOOOO!!

5. Upcoming conference in St. Louis - time updating my skills and talking shop with fellow OTs!!

6. My Tigger dog!!  After posting this I realized my dog had gotten out - and it had been an hour since he slipped out while I went to get something out of the car!  After 20 minutes of driving around the neighborhood yelling "Tigg-er!!" and whistling at the top of my lungs out runs my fluffy white Lsaha Apso!  Tiggs is found!!  THANK GOD!

Feel free to do the same if you'd like.  It's amazing how counting your
blessing on a gloomy day can lift your spirits and just remind you of
God's faithfulness!!

So...count your blessings name them one by one!  Count your many blessings see what God has done!!

Today was yet another part of my birthday celebration. I went out with my "adoptive" parents Ma & Pops Brooks. My hubby was very excited and even gave up a round of golf just to go to his favorite restraunt, Fuji's Steakhouse (a Japanese steakhouse...the kind where they fix it all in front of you!).

It was fun, especially since it was Rog & Susan's first time at Fuji's! Curt insisted that Sus and I had the birthday celebration, which consists of the Asian staff (not all are Japanese) singing "Happy Birthday" while they beat a silly drum. Hearing them sing "Appy Virthday" was pretty funny, but not as funny as the plates we got with our cake on them! The crazy thing is...I even spelled out my name!!! This is what memories are made of!!

Today was my un-birthday birthday.  It kinda sorta was my birthday...but not really.  You see, I was a special baby that just happened to be born on the only day that occurs once every 4 years!  Who knows the odds of that...but I bet the Pratt brothers could probably figure that out in a jiffy!!  In other words, I was born on Leap Year aka February 29th!  So I only have a REAL birthday once every 4 years, which makes me 8.75 today!  (If you're really nosey, multiply 8.75 times 4 and you'll get my real age! Tee hee hee!)

It was a fun and special day.  The festivities started at Solomon's Porch for lunch with my hubby and his parents.  I got a lovely card with a little spending money from my inlaws and a beautiful card and Leeland CD from my hubby.  We had a delicious meal and then Curt (hubby) gets up and brings me the flowers off the counter!  I said, "You can't just give me those flowers!!  They belong to the Porch!!"  To which he responds, "I can too, I put 'em there! They're for you!!"  YEAH ME!!!  I got flowers!!!  Aren't they beautiful?!!!

After eating lunch, Curt disappears again and brings me a gold gift bag with a wrapped present in it.  I open it up and get this...

Wowsers!  Pretty cool birthday!  After lunch I had to go see some of my kiddos.  When I was done with work and back in town, Curt & I hopped into his car and went to see Beth & Brian for their End of Mud Month Party.  We had spaghetti and meatballs -- you know the "On top of Ole Smokey" kind, salad and yummy garlic bread.  We then returned back to the Porch for cake and coffee where we were joined by several including The Colonel, new Xangan joycefreeman, Robbulldog and other non-Xanga folk!  Beth made me a birthday cake -- strawberry Jell-O with cool whip icing!  YUM!!!

She also made a marble cake with chocolate icing which my hubby devoured! 

The Colonel gave me a gift certificate for the Porch worth $8.75!!!  He's so goofy!  It's cool though cuz now I can get coffee or lunch sometime!

I've gotten lots of calls and emails and cards today.  It will probably continue for the next couple of days.  No one really knows when to do the well-wishing, but according to Robbulldog since I was born in the morning, it's probably more accurate to celebrate my non-b-day on the 28th instead of the 1st.  (If I was born in the afternoon then it would default to the 1st of March!)  But not everybody knows the time of my birth!

If you forgot, don't worry about it...it's not on the calendar so you're forgiven!  It's easy to miss a day that's not there!

Thanks everyone for a beautiful day!  It was a ton of fun!  It's so awesome to feel the love of friends and family!  Who knew little ole me was so gosh darn special!!!

It seems like ages since I've REALLY posted.  Work is keeping me busy and it seems like there's more kids and not enough of me to go around.  I'm literally to the point where I barely have enough time in my week to schedule evaluations for new referrals, not to mention a spot to put them IF they need therapy services.  Don't get me wrong, it's great to be in demand...but this time of year I start thinking about the next school year.  And if I'm this full already this year, it's gonna make next year even more exciting to schedule. 

I am however learning to be a bit more creative with scheduling.  Usually I like to see kids for 30 minutes/week in the schools.  However since I serve 11 rural school districts with growing caseloads and typically put 150 miles or more on my car each day, it gets a bit tricky adding kids to an already busy schedule.  So I've started trying bi-weekly direct (one-on-one) services with more consulting time which allows me to teach the staff how to encourage new skills, which then they carry out daily.  It's amazing how much better the follow through is with this arrangement!!  I think I will continue this method as I'm finding it almost MORE effective than going weekly for 30 mins.  I've always said 30 or 60 minutes a weeks of OT (occupational therapy) will not miraculously fix any child...follow through is needed within the home and school to really make headway. 

On the fun side of life -- Curt and I got away to Branson this past weekend.  We got to spend some time with an awesome girlfriend of mine and her husband and baby.  Our husbands are just getting to know each other and it's amazing how many interests they have in common.  We spent Sunday watching the Daytona 500 and playing games and just chilling.  Both guys are Jeff Gordan fans.  I like to watch NASCAR to see the crashes!  If you're gonna sit and watch cars go around in circles you gotta cheer for something!!  So I get all excited when there's a crash!  Of course I always start to pray that no one is hurt.  It really amazes me how much the safety contraptions really do protect the drivers these days!

On the home front...I gotta get down to business and just seriously commit to getting routines and decluttering like Flylady recommends.  I think that it will help with some of my stink'n think'n and get me out of this "funk" I'm in.  Maybe "mud month" has gotten me down as well...but I gotta do something before I just plain lose my sanity!!  Pastor's blog "A Metaphor for Modern Man" has also gotten me thinking about my time spent in front of the boob tube!!  I can't imagine dying in front of the TV and NO ONE KNOWING for a year!!!  I have this real yucky picture in my head of that man, mummified sitting in the dark aglow with the light of the TV.  I think it's maybe JUST the mental image to get me off my Franny and doing more productive things in the evenings!!

Okay...so now that you know what's been keeping me from posting all the time, I'll leave you with a neat poem a friend just sent me.  It kinda reminded me of working with "my kids" (the special needs children that I serve) and how other children just take them in and befriend them.  I hope it touches you too!  God bless!!

Two Horses ~ Author Unknown

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.

 Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind.

His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.  This alone is amazing.

Attached to her halter is a small bell.  It lets her blind friend know where she is, so he can follow her.

Like the owner of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges. He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours.

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle".

A friend sent me this...I thought it made a cool Valentine.

    For God so
loV ed the world,
             That He gA ve
                         His onL y
                          BegottE n
                                 
   
SoN
         
 
T
hat
whosoever
                    
    Believeth I n Him
                            Should N ot perish,
       But
have
E verlasting life."
                            
                                   John
3:16

Kinda cool eh??

Have a great Valentine's Day!!  Just take some time to pass love onto all those around you!  Especially those who don't expect it!

This link will take you to a short CNN story on a child prodigy painter.  I saw her work several years ago...it's neat seeing it again now that she's older.  Also has a beautiful story of her family coming to God.

Enjoy!

Briansbabe94 has tagged me.  Here's what I have to do:

1. Grab the nearest book to you,
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence,
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, (I posted a few more than that)
4. Include the title and the author's name,
5. Tag 3 people.

So, here it is:

I've got 2 books on my desk so I'll do both! 

Book 1: Body Clutter by Martha Cilley (aka Flylady) and Leanne Ely (the Dinner Diva)

"But I had to face the facts--Flylady's wake-up call was also mine.  I was of the opinion that God wasn't messing around and it was critical to look at the reality of the situation, assess what needed to be done, and then put my efforts into the BabySteps.  Do you see the difference? I still made a big-picture analysis, but because of BabySteps did it without the paralysis of no action.  God bless BabySteps!"

Book 2: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

"Jesus then commented to his students on how hard it was for the rich to put themselves under the rule of God, to enter the kingdom.  Because of the common assumption that wealth meant God's favour, they were stunned.  In response to their amazement he went on to explain, 'How hard it is for those who trust wealth to enter the kingdom! A camel can pass through the eye of a needle easier than a rich man can enter the kingdom of God.' But this 'explanation' totally lost them.  The were 'astonished out of measure' and mutter to one another, 'Who then can be saved?' (v. 26)"

I tag queenofchocolate, cyndymac, and susie91793.

Have fun gals!

It's a beautiful day!!  It's gotta be.  After a lovely night of speed Scrabble and visiting with our friends from Israel and then playing a couple rounds of Mexican Train dominoes with our neighbors, we went to sleep knowing the world was finally WHITE!!!  (Thank you for finally sharing myglasshouse!!)  This is the view around my house this morning!

I woke up this moring at a phone call at 7:21 am...our neighbors are at the hospital and are getting ready to have a baby!!!  Hannah Victoria is coming and is on her way!!!  YEAHHH!!!  Please pray for Katie & Shawn and baby Hannah that she has a safe and smooth delivery!!

Maybe I'll get to post some cute new baby pictures later today!!  Stay posted...

Enjoy the BEAUTIFUL DAY that God has made!!