Last Minute Preparations!

Well, I have been trying to do some last minute preparations today for tonight's "Costume Party Which Happens to Be on Halloween." I didn't feel like I was falling behind on preparations until today. We started and finished making our costumes this week....and they look SOOO GOOD! I can't wait to post pictures! When I put my costume on, I cannot help but laugh. So anyways, I thought that making costumes was going to be the hard part...NOT SO!

Challenge # 1

We have to take a pumpkin to the party tonight for a pumpkin carving contest. I didn't want our pumpkin to rot, so I decided to wait until today to buy our pumpkin.....not a great plan! Apparently, pumpkins sell out around here. I have always seen piles of pumpkins laying around after Halloween, so I thought surely I'd be able to find one! I called about 13 different stores...and none of them had pumpkins! Finally...I found a store with some pumpkins...and they were buy 1 get 1 free! SCORE!

Challenge #2

I have to rush home after work today to begin (and finish) making my Halloween treats (peanut butter / chocolate witch hats)! My treats are not nearly as "Halloweeny" as Kelly's finger treats...but they are very festive! I wanted them to be nice and fresh, so I decided to not make them until the day of....I somehow forgot that I had to work today and would not have a full day to bake till my heart's content. I guess I'll be rushing home from work to bake my very fresh treats!!!


The moral of this story is....I'm really just a procrastinator who covers up that fact with all my good intentions! Check back with me tomorrow... I'll let you know how it all turns out (This is going to be fun!!! =)

Will I Ever Get There?

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever found yourself waiting for your life to begin? Waiting until you could drive, waiting to go to college, waiting to graduate from college, waiting to get a job, waiting to find another job, waiting to get married, waiting to find an apartment, waiting to buy a house so you can get out of your apartment, waiting to have a baby, waiting for your baby to gain independence, waiting for your teen to move out, waiting....waiting...waiting.

Now, some of these I have never experienced, but the list could go on forever. The point is that I get caught in this trap ALL THE TIME!!! The trap of waiting for life to begin (AKA: Waiting for the Part of Life I am Ready for to Begin Now). Well, I've been caught in the waiting trap yet again. The trap is actually not a trap at all...it's simply a negative attitude against life. A hole that I dig, and then I proceed to jump into it. Then I wallow in self pity until someone or something comes along to point out that I'm being stupid. Yes, wallowing in self-pity has been a favorite past-time of mine since I had the ability to throw a fit!

So, today I was wallowing...again...and this verse just popped into my head. I think God smacked me over the head with it. I was sitting here dwelling on parts of my life that have not gotten here yet, and it hit me. If I can't be thankful for the life I have now (a life of worry-free luxury for the most part), I'm never going to get there! I'm never going to get to a place where I can say...here I am...this is where I've always wanted to be!!!

I tried to think of all the things that were actually bad in my life, so that I could take all my requests and anxieties to God in prayer (the wallowing voice inside me could not help thinking that this list was going to be a long one). I tell you, I could not think of a single bad thing! The ONLY thing bad in my life (at the moment) was the fact that I cannot fast-forward time. I realized that I was sitting around waisting my wonderful life by inflicting misery on myself because my life is not going fast enough....yes, I'm definitely crazy! Well, I guess I have my request for God...I need to request peace, patience, and contentment with my wonderful life.

So then I decided to try to apply the "with thanksgiving" part of verse 6... I started thinking of things I'm thankful for, and my A.D.D. mind strayed to another topic before I ever got to the end of that list! It went on FOREVER because I am so blessed.

The moral of the story is that we all (especially me) need to focus on the blessings that God pours out on us daily instead of looking forward to that which we can't have right now. Only then will we receive the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. Only then will we be able to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Only then will life truly begin!

October Beach Visits & Cabin Fever

So we are going to the beach this weekend! I've never been to the beach during the off-season. I don't know what to expect....

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I'm certainly not that excited about getting into a bathing suit (I've already gotten started on my layer of "warmth" for the winter). However, I could use a little bit of sunshine =) Kevin and I are pretty ready to travel somewhere, so I think his weekend will be exactly what we need. A nice change of scenery/activity for a weekend before we burrow down into our winter hole! I'm really not too excited about this winter. I already have cabin fever (AKA: Ready to Buy a House Syndrome), and the winter causes me to stay inside even more than before! Maybe as I'm curled up by a fire I can research house possibilities online!

AFTER RETURNING FROM THE BEACH TRIP...

We ended up having a GREAT time at the beach! It was just what we needed before coming back to Huntsville to begin Wintering Down. Check out the pictures from the fun weekend with the family! This was also the first time I had met my 2 first cousins once removed (Silas & Lia - AKA the cute kids in all the pictures) and Lee (the boy playing with Kevin in the pool). I was thankful that there was finally someone around who had as much energy as Kevin - a 6th grade boy!!!

Living the Dream!

As a little girl, I absolutely loved playing grocery store! I adored fancy cash register toys! The more beeping, dinging, clicking, and swiping it could do - the better! I could spend hours and hours playing "cashier." If you had told me about the future invention of the Self Check-out, I would have looked forward to it in eager anticipation of living the dream!!!

FAST FORWARD 18 YEARS...

I no longer have such a starry opinion of the Self Check-out. I now believe that these machines were invented, so that stores no longer have to employ cashiers. No, you (the shopper) get to do all the work, and then you pay them for your troubles....GENIUS!!!! I wish I could say that I had someone who cleans my house each week then slips me $100....sadly, that is not the case!

My most recent encounter with this frustrating piece of equipment was yesterday - after work. I decided that I would go pick up a few necessities "real quick" before I went home. Unless your definition of "real quick" is 1 hour......my plan did not succeed. My shopping only took about 20 minutes, and the rest of that blessed hour (40 minutes for those of you who are a little slow with the math) was spent in the self check-out line.

Since our local Wal-Mart only employs about 3 cashiers at a time (2 to actually serve as cashiers and 1 to single-handedly run all of the very needy self check-out lanes) the lines tend to be a little long at the "real cashiers." So, I found myself scooting into a much shorter line at the self check-out. The line was moving along at a fairly brisk pace, and then the person in front of me paid. His change was being spit out of the machine...then it stopped!

I decided to hang around because I was next, and I had already taken all of my groceries out of my cart and put them on the belt. The dreaded "CSM" was called to the scene and started unlocking things and pulling out drawers of cash... The cash drawers were (obviously) empty, so she started taking apart more stuff. After unlocking about a hundred things, she finally found a box with a lot of money in it which she proceeded to sort. Her money sorting skills made me realize that she had probably never worked in a bank...it took forever! She finally got all the money sorted, filled the money drawers, slammed all the drawers, locked all the doors, and it was my turn. Finally!

I have gotten to be a pretty good cashier...probably from all that childhood practice. My scanning skills are far better than most. Unfortunately, it was while I was in the process of scanning and bagging that the bagging system decided to mess up. Somehow, the bags stopped opening when you pulled each full bag away. I resorted to trying to very carefully pick each bag open every time I needed a new bag - this took some time and patience. I finally finished all my scanning and bagging! I didn't even have to pause that often for approval from the lead cashier. Let the paying process begin - "YES, I'm almost done," I thought.

I took out my stack of coupons (this is my new thing), and started scanning those in. Some warning came up, and the lead cashier came over to help me scan my coupons and stuff them into the appropriate box. After this had been done, I tried to pay (cash of course), and all of my bills were spit back out...ALL of them! After shoving bills in and watching them come right back out for a long while, an error message appeared on my machine. This situation was far too complicated for the cashier to handle - time to page the CSM! After punching, smacking, and shaking the machine (hey...I would have gladly done that!) the CSM told me that she was sorry, but I was going to have to unpack all my bags and start over! I should have kept my mouth shut at that point, but I decided to ask about my coupons! She proceeded to open up the coupon lock box, and told me to sort through all the coupons in there. As I sifted through all the coupons that had been used that day, I wondered if it was worth it.

After rescuing all my coupons, the nervous cashier guy and I attempted to unbag and rescan all of my groceries with his little hand-gun. I think he thought I was going to explode with anger at any moment! The process was going smoothly until we got to my fruit. As you all know, fruit must be weighed, so it is, therefore, impossible to scan fruit with a hand-gun. Thus, the CSM (who was, apparently, the brains of the operation) was again called to the scene. Feeling a little sorry for me, she said to just give me the fruit for free. We scanned my precious coupons, I paid, and I was OUT OF THERE!!!! Proud that my temper never flared up in an obvious way and that I had gotten some free fruit, I walked outside...

and IT WAS RAINING!!!!!

The Perfect Costume

So, this is the first year I have ever put much thought into dressing up for Halloween!

When I was a kid, we dressed up as Bible characters. Not too hard considering all you need is a small white sheet with a hole cut in it for your head and a rope tied around your waist. Top that off with a very plain looking blue scarf draped around your head. Walla! You're the perfect Mary! Throw on a little jewelry, and you're Esther! Yes, we normally just raided the nativity scene costume box at our church about a day before the Fall Fling, and we were all ready!

Not so this Halloween...I have been invited to a "Costume Party which just happens to be on Halloween." As the title may suggest, my friends did not want to turn people away by calling it a "Halloween Party." =) Anyways, everyone is dressing up for the big event. Such pressure I tell you! Of course, Kevin suggested that we come as a construction worker and a secretary! I told him he was being a fuddy-duddy, so then came a long string of very non-fuddy-duddy suggestions including such glorious ideas as M&M the rapper, Michael Jackson, a pimp and a ho, batman and robin, etc... So, needless to say, we were back at square one.

The researching began, and I discovered something about Halloween. It is an excuse for women to wear as little as possible and get away with it, but there is always a not so sexy jumpsuit option!

Take the Wizard of Oz costumes for example:

You have Sexy Dorothy and Plain Dorothy (who is actually pretty cute)...

Sexy Witch and Plain Witch...

Sexy Scarecrow and Plain Scarecrow...

Sexy Tin Man and Plain Tin Man ...

Sexy Cowardly Lion and Plain Cowardly Lion...

Alrighty then! Well, at this point, I could either go to the party half naked, or I could go in a souped-up jumpsuit! Both of which would cost me around $50! As you can tell, I was not really excited about either option... So I started searching for everyday objects (which could not possibly have a "sexy" spin)!

Here's what I found...

So, at this point in the costume search, I was starving and back to square one....again!

I reached far into the recesses of my brain...trying to think of what I had heard my friends dressed up as, and an idea came to me! We could dress up as Bob Ross (the "happy trees" guy with the fro who painted on PBS) and his easel! My brother had dressed up as him for Halloween one year!


...No Good....We decided that nobody would know who we were! Later on that week, I came up with another idea, mentioned it to Kevin, and he's in! We have to make our costumes this coming weekend, and we'll see how that goes!


To be continued....

What's in a Name?... A Lot!

Hello to all!

Well, today I officially decided to join the world of blogging. Now that I am in a place in my life where I can spend time (probably too much time) online, I might actually have time to do this blogging thing!

My blogging excitement was almost subdued when I came to the spot where I had to name my blog. What a task! I can only imagine the difficulty of naming a child!!! However, after much deliberation, I finally named my dear blog.

I came across a number of options when naming what will soon consume most of my time and effort. These options included:

1. A Cutsie Play on Words:

• Watts Up?
• Watts Going On?

2. A Catchy Phrase:

• The Wonderful World of the Watts
• A Day in My Life...

3. A Religious Spin:

• Knocking, Seeking, and Finding
• A Lily of the Field

Honestly, I had no idea! I did not want my title to be cheesy (that canceled out option #1), and my desire was for it to reflect all aspects of my life such as marriage and Christianity. Most of all, I did not want to be limited to a specific topic when blogging (i.e. design, family life, cooking, etc...).

Well, I decided on the title, "A Cord of Three." This blog will thus encompass my life as a young, married, Christian woman who is trying to follow the road less traveled. Warning: it may not always be exciting, but it is sure to be entertaining!

Thanks for reading!