this picture cracks me up...

"what!?"

i need a little help...

okay, so i've come to terms that justin and i will not be leaving the state for some time, probably two to three years. depressing, disheartening, but reality. so in that time, i really really really do not want to live in any more rented space.

since we've moved into this duplex, i've done little more than place the furniture, put up a few decorations and keep up with the cleaning. i haven't unpacked most of my clothes. i just haven't felt like there was any point since we'd be leaving.

this place isn't all bad. its large. there's a backyard for the dogs, and a laundry room in which to keep the litter pans. there's even an extra bedroom. and i haven't even done anything with that. the biggest plus? the landlord. she's great, and says we're her best tenants. considering the rest of the neighborhood, i can see why.

the cons? well, the neighborhood, obviously. its a low income area, lots of section 8. i didn't know anything about this area until i moved here. not that i've had any problems, thank the Lord. its highly transient, and full of obvious gang meetings and drug deals. i'd go as far as to say prostitution. i know it happens, and i'm pretty sure i've seen the negotiation from my car as i'm driving home late at night.

but as i've said, i've had no problems with anyone. having a big dog helps! :)
i feel helpless to make this place my own because of my discontent of the area, and also the restrictions of renting. i can't paint, and i can't change any of the outdated features of the place.

so, all that being said, i'm ready to buy a house. ready is such a loose term here, really.

so here's where i need help. first, i ask that you'd lift justin and i up in prayer. we need the Lord's guidance in this matter first and foremost.
secondly, i need advice! i've only started to look at houses once, and that ended when we moved back into my mom's for a bit.

so what do you think? should i continue renting? should i buy? our lease here is up in february. it gives us some time at least. plus, the possibility of finding another place to rent with our zoo is next to impossible. there you have it.

Ode to My Jill (best viewed on anything BUT mozilla)

It occurs to me that there is not nearly enough of jill on here. i shall remedy this fact. So here goes, the "ode" of sorts to my jill...

i met jill my sophomore year of highschool. she was a year ahead of me, still is, i never let her forget it. except for that two week period where we're the same age. but i digress...

since meeting, we've been pretty much inseperable. if you don't count her living in wilburton, talequa, boston, tulsa, dallas and new york city as separation- i mean, we don't.

we both have a little bit of a thing for cinnamon dulce lattes at starbucks. we consume more than is possibly healthy on a routine basis when around each other, which greatly contributes to our "less than adult" behavoir. or does it? some would argue that we don't need such fuel, for it the behavoir comes from within us- that there is no such need for any such catalyst. some are pretty much right.

here is an example. jill lives in nyc. i went to visit. we did some touristy things. touristy childish things. you would think a five year old would put on the hat and turn the fake wheels. no. we did. and we're proud. we got candy. it went well with our coffee(S).

that first year we met, we were volunteering for NHS by gift wrapping at the mall. i don't remember if we were done or if we were on a break, but jill suggested that we get our pictures taken with santa. it had started. the first of many traditions. this past christmas (when i went to visit) we had our picture taken with santa for the TENTH YEAR IN A ROW. now, i capitalize that because i've never been able to say i've done something for ten years straight and it sorta makes me feel old. hah. sorta? it really does. the good thing is that i counterbalance that feeling with what i actually have done for all those ten years. pictures with santa in matching outfits with my best friend after drinking lots of sugary coffee does not count as old. and we don't intend on stopping this tradion any time soon.

one of these days i'll put a post up that shows all ten years.

jill is one person that i know i can say absolutely anything to and she won't think less of me for it. she understands me and has such a way of making me feel comfortable. when i got married, she'd already been married for three years. i was so relieved to find that the struggles i was having in my first year were not crazy and that she'd felt like i did in many situations.

we've crossed many bridges in our friendship (pun intended). i still remember the time she'd just come from chemo and we'd met for lunch and i told her that i didn't think that she and jd should get married. it made her cry. jd just said that he appreciated my input. tense moment. but i knew we had the bond that wouldn't be weakened by my opinion, and i felt i couldn't not tell her. they did, in fact, still get married despite what i said, and i can tell you that i've never been happier to be wrong. in november they'll be celebrating their sixth anniversary. they've been together through thick and thin. cancer, law school, a million moves. i admire their ability to get along and work through issues. even more, i appreciate the invaluable knowledge that jill is learning in her marriage and then passing along to me.

the next couple of pictures are from her 27th birthday, dec 4 in nyc, first at nobu sushi for lunch when we met up with jd on his lunch break and then at the bubble lounge where jd had organised a small gathering for friends to celebrate.

here she is undoubtably telling some story about something. undoubtably.

she has the uncanny ability to make friends very quickly in any situation and to bring fun into everything. she's definitly taught me to be myself even more than i thought possible. of course, some may seek out her destruction for this fact, but what can i do?

when jd graduated law school, they went on a trip to italy. this was my favorite of all her pictures. and there were a ton!

here are a couple more pictures of my jill. some of you have met her, and of course love her. some of you have never met her, but who knows, that may change. she is, afterall, my cohort in taking over the world... :)

i loves me my jill

because i can't believe calista hasn't enjoyed this...

get ready to cry....grab a kleenex...

i'm crying...

i haven't laughed this hard since "farting preacher 4"

turn your sound WAY up...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Recovery remains uncertain for Lake Hefner bird | NewsOK.com

update: some of you may have heard about this. the only surviving baby bird was taken to justin's mom who took it to wildcare, an organization she volunteers for on a full-time basis. the baby bird has died....justin's working on a petition of sorts to get this guy prosecuted to the fullest extent.


Another update. My mother, who has been helping take of the bird already told me that she wasn't doing to well... sad

read more | digg story

i love my babies

murphie got spayed on wednesday. she was still in season due to cystic ovaries, so we had to pay double the amount, but it was a good thing we got that caught. the vet said that was why she was constantly in season. drove me crazy, but it was never as bad as the time she had to wear diapers. i can tell she's not feeling to well, and i feel bad. but there's nothing i can do. weirdly enough, she's decided that she must have her ball with her at all times. even in bed at night. it has a bell. fun times.
our next door neighbors have dogs that stay outside all the time. they're not extremely well cared for, but they're not suffering either. they have fleas. so do our dogs now. well, not murphie, she got that taken care of at the vet. poor william, however, is a scratchin' fool. he's still a happy guy, and LOVES the fan that we put on the patio to help with the heat during the day. we also finally got a weedeater to help with the yard. we dont' have the money for a lawnmower at the moment, but we dont' really have much grass in our small yards to justify buying one. a weedeater will suffice. we found one for $9 at home depot! its obviously not the best of the best, but i don't care, it was nine dollars!! that will help with the fleas too, when we spray the yard. we're going to also frontline everybody. maybe me and justin too, as the fleas may switch to us when there's nothing to eat. the weird thing is, is when i talked to the vet and he told me murphie had fleas, he told me if i put on white socks and walked around, i'd have little black dots on my socks. those are fleas he said. also to put a white sock on my hand and run it under the bed and i'd find them there too. i wear white socks nearly every day (i know, not what i used to wear!) and i don't see them anywhere. the way he talked, i should be infested. i haven't seen a single flea. i guess murphie had most of them? i dunno, but i know william has them since murphie does not.
while typing that paragraph, i looked up to see piere leaning on my remaining floor lamp and in slow motion i yelled "NO!" as it came crashing to the ground. i just spent about half an hour cleaning up glass. tiny tiny shards too. and its my remaining lamp because he's done it before. at our other place. grrr. i guess i'm not destined for nice floor lamps.
so i was going to say something nice about piere. but he's now on my poo list. its a good thing he's so cute and cuddly or he'd be sleeping in the laundry room tonight.
okay, something nice: piere has recently taken up a new napping position on the floor. i don't know what started it, but he likes it. weirdo.

i had an extra bag of cat food in the cabinets above the washer and dryer. the kitty and piere have been snacking on it lately. it was too cute to cut out immediately. but it has since been removed and put with the rest of their food in the plastic bin i've got. no more extra snacking for the two lards i've got. the kitty is well, he's still an grumpy old man and he's still fat. we still love him though.
riley is the same. cute and photogenic as ever. still a bit wild at times, but makes a habit of coming to visit me and sit in my lap for about two minutes every day. i love it!
last but not least, we have fred. the reclusive, elusive fred. occassionally she graces us with her presence and we have to photograph the moment so that we can remember what she looks like. okay, so she's not nearly as bad as she used to be, we usually see her early in the morning and late at night. usually when we're busy or ready to go to bed.


so that's it for now. stay tuned for more baby pictures in the future! i'll be uploading them to flickr soon.

my continuous lesson...

on new year's eve, justin and i went to a party. at the end of the night, we were each given a small piece of a plant that the hostesses had found root bound in a pot. they divided it up and put each piece into a glass vase with water. it was to be a new beginning for the new year.

it stayed at my mom's house when we moved. i actually forgot about it. it didn't seem that it had grown at all, and even though my mom said that it was fine in water till it grew roots, i was the skeptic.

tuesday, justin drove down to my mom's to get our few remaining things there and brought back the plant, and it had actually sprouted roots AND a few more leaves. all that in just a bit of old water. we potted it into some soil and it looks rather nice.

justin had a dr's appointment to go to on friday. he didn't make it, it was so bad on sunday (pain progressed to the other side of his back and other leg) that he called in on monday and they got him right in. he called me at work and told me that i needed to come pick him up when the nurse called because they decided to do an epidural right then and there.

i picked him up and took him home, not fully understanding what had happened. or what was meant to happen. when i finally got home from work, he explained that the hope was that the epidural would help the pain enough for him to begin exercises and physical therapy. however, the injection might take days to work, and might not work at all. neither of us got our hopes up. we were, however, ecstatic that this doctor was taking his situation seriously.

the next day was no different from any other day. still pain, no relief. on wednesday, however, he called me and told me that he didn't want to get his hopes up, but he thought it might be working. we both had busy days and when it was time to go to bed that night, we layed in bed for hours and just talked. this was the justin i had dated, fallen in love with, married. i teared up several times when i thought about how much i had missed him and how great it was to have him back, if only for that night.

he's feeling better day by day. its not a fix, but it is pain management. he's able to take much less medicine now, and is going to see the doctor friday and hopes to talk about physical therapy.

if the God of creation can allow a plant whose nutrients are from the soil to grow in plain water, how much more can He allow me (and justin!) to survive this trial. its not over, but we've at least been given a break.

thanks so much to all of you for your prayers and support. please continue to pray and praise the Lord for what He has done, and all that He plans to do. i am so thankful that He cares so much that he continually shows me His boundless love.

random history lesson

a friend of mine posted this online and i thought it was pretty neat. i don't know how true all of it is, but its still fun to read. oh and obviously i didn't type it out, there are capitals in it. :) or is it capitols? i don't know. honestly don't care....read on:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the
water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things
used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath
in May and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting
married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of all were the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, don't throw the baby out with the Bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall
off the roof. Hence the saying; It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could
mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt.
Only the wealthy had something other than
dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor".

The wealthy had slate floors that
would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw)
on floor to help keep their footing.
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way.
Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that
always hung over the fire.

Every day they lit the fire and added things
to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat.
They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold
overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.

Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show
off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could bring home the bacon.

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit
around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter.

Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next
400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status.

Workers got the burnt
bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top,
or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.

They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the
family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they
would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out
of places to bury people.

So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.

So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.

Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to
listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was
considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring!

this is calista's fault.....

please address all complaints to her blog.



Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

1. i cannot sleep in pants. the legs wrap around and around and around and drive me insane. feel sorry for anyone i ever spent the night with while growing up.



2. i am horrified of crickets. they jump AT you, not away from you. they can fly.


3. i love to eat animal crackers with mustard.



4. when i was little my family went camping somewhere in utah. the campground had toilets with blue water and i had to stand on the lever to flush them. i loved both facts. i said many times that i needed to go to the bathroom when i didn't actually need to go. i just wanted to flush the cool toilets. my dad caught on and called me "beth blue water" for the rest of the trip. and then randomly after that for years.


5. when i shift into neutral, i have to toggle the gear shifter past reverse several times before i'm satisfied that i'm actually out of any gear.


6. i love cartoons above all other shows. spongebob is my favorite, but i love a good animae such as inuyasha or full metal alchemist. the japanese have a very specific formula to their story lines and the predictability is actually pretty funny.


7. i'm not very girlie, but if you came to my house and saw the decor, you'd think i was. this is mildly disappointing, but, i like what i like, i have to deal with it. so does my husband.


so there you have it, seven weird, random facts about moi. it took me two days to come up with these. its not that i have a lack of weird fact, oh no, its just that most would either offend someone or scare them. these were pretty friendly, i feel.

i'm going to tag some that calista tagged, but eh, they haven't done it yet!

1. april
2. michelle
3. rachel
4. ruth
5. amy
6. christina
7. brooke

sad sack update...

not feeling quite so down today. a welcome break in my melancholy streak.
seems as if the situation just couldn't get worse... (although i know it always could)

as soon as the end up april came around, we were on the phone with the dr's office in hopes of scheduling the long awaited mri. all of our insurance info was given. then i got a call from the dr's office saying that we've got a preexisting condition on our plan. being new to this whole grown up insurance world, i was not sure what to do. i called the insurance company and was told exactly what i was afraid of. they would not pay for the mri if justin had been seen in the last six months for something related. this made...makes me angry.

i called the dr's office and found out that there is a place called Servant Imaging in Norman. they do imaging services for poor people like us with stupid insurance companies. we set up the appointment for monday. it costs $600. the worst thing about paying the $600 is that it doesn't even get applied to our deductible...AND had we known this was going to be the case, we wouldn't have waited this long to do it!

so he went in for the mri. the dr called justin on her way home from work that same day to let us know the results. a slight bulging disc and some arthritic changes at the base of the spine. according to her, nothing to explain the amount of pain he's describing. she wants to send him to a neurologist. i don't know what for, but i guess it doesn't matter, because unless the government decides to send out another stimulus check, he won't be going for a long while. the preexisting on his ins is until 2009!

so he got another rx for some pain meds, but who really wants that. again. not i said the wolf.


so on a better note, i have to thank you all soooooo much for your encouragement and prayers. you have no idea how much it has helped. i don't feel so incredibly alone, its nice to know that people care so much. i've learned two verses thanks to you guys. II cor 3:5 and 4:17. they're posted on my mirror in the bathroom so that i look over them every morning and evening as i'm getting ready for whatever is before me.

its incredible to think that even though we're deserving of death and hell, we're actually rewarded for suffering "light affliction." He is so good to us.

i'm sorry for the alarming amount of sad sack that has come out of me recently. or not come out...i know i should be answering phone calls, but i haven't been able to bring myself to bum anyone out on the phone yet. sorry christina...i'll make it up to you in a couple of days...promise. and calista, i've got an email headed your way soon.

its been a while...

its been a while for a reason. i keep not posting because i have nothing happy or exciting to say. but that's not realistic. life is not all fun and games.

justin has a back injury and is consumed with his pain. it is never ending and continually reaches new levels in that it now affects his left leg and causes him so much pain that he often limps. he (halfway) jokes about getting a cane.

this "injury" of sorts has completely invaded our lives. it has changed everything. he no longer thinks about finishing my mom's bathroom, taking the dogs out for walks, hanging out with me. all he thinks about is when is the next dr's appointment, our insurance wont' kick in till may first, this medicine does no good, etc.

its insane. surely this sort of thing really isn't happening to me, right? even my parents were married for several years before daddy was diagnosed with his disease. and yet here we are.

i am miserable. i continually wallow in my misery. i put off housework. i don't cook regular meals. i cry a lot. i thought that when my dad passed away, i was done with the struggle of living with a person who was in so much pain everyday that it changed him.

its almost funny to think back to conversations with my brother, peter, about how we were scared that God was preparing us for something even worse in the future. how we thought that for sure it couldn't be, but we both had the feeling. but now that this scenario is actually being played out, it is anything but funny. it is miserable.

i feel like i'm not married- that i have a permanent roommate. i rarely spend time with him that is not owned by his affliction. i even get mad at him sometimes for it. and that's just not fair.

i have been so busy feeling sorry for myself, i have neglected to look to the Lord for help. He's been here all along, just waiting for me to ask. how dumb of me. i'm so glad that His love is independent of me.

so that is why i haven't been on here in a while. i apologize for the depressing read, but i really ask that everyone pray for us. we need it so much right now.

i'm baaaaaaack!

we finally got the internet! i'm so excited to be back online and keep up with everyone!

so here's what's been happening with me...are you on the edge of your seat?

we moved and so did the piano. successfully. and i took josh's advice and justin moved the piano all by himself. haha okay, no, i limit the drugging of my husband to sickness only...

we had the help of melissa schiete, ryan sullivan and another couple from the chapel and justin's parents. melissa actually helped me clean and set up the kitchen the night before. she also stayed at my mom's and cleaned (A LOT!!) after we moved our things out. she was such a huge help!

we're still in the process of setting things up. i had the flu last weekened and now justin's fighting it. lucky for him, the dr called in an rx for "tamiflu" and its helping him out tremendously. i only wish i had done that! the body aches of this strain were insane. ooh i'm a poet and i didn't realize it!

its so exciting to be back out on our own. i have missed it so much, and even though justin's been sick today, we've had the day off together and worked together without fighting at all.

so that's it. aren't you tired of sitting on the edge of your seat? i cant' imagine its comfortable. seriously, sit back. i am.

as a side note, i'd like to say how much i enjoy imogene heap's album "speak for yourself." i've had it for nearly two years and i never get tired of it. others may as it seems to be the only music i play in my car, but they can get over it.

the end.

i need some advice...

so we're moving on saturday. and besides being worried about not having nearly enough packed yet, the water and electric, the fence not being fixed and not having much man power for the move, i have to figure out a way to move my piano!

its an OLD upright...its sooooo heavy. and while i know its moved several several times with my family, this will be the first time i've had to think about it. so any advice i can have regarding this difficult item's move would be much appreciated, along with prayers for everything else to run smoothly....thanks in advance!

great is His faithfulness...

upon finding out that we needed to find a new place to live, justin immediately set out applying for jobs. he'd been delivering pizzas on weekends and going to school very full time. unfortunately, with our money situation about to get much worse, he had to make the difficult transition into full time work AND school. he applied for about nine positions in one evening after completing his resume.

his first interview was scheduled for the following monday and then two more were scheduled for the next week. the first interview went extremely well. it was a real job with real benefits and salary. grownup stuff. scary. and as scary as it seemed, he wanted it anyway.

everything was discussed in the interview except for pay. the interviewer (head of the applications development team) simply told justin that he and his wife needed to discuss it, pray about it, whatever we needed to do to figure out how much money we needed.

that gave me a good feeling. that he would even mention praying about it sounded promising. and we did pray. all we needed was enough to get by. pay bills, get out of the hole, owe no man anything.

as part of the interview process, justin was given a project to complete and turn in as evidence of his experience in the programming languages being used. he completed it and turned it in the night before his second interview.

the second interview was with a placement agency strictly for programmers. the interviewer said that currently there were no positions available but if justin had no luck with the first job choice, he'd keep justin in queue for something.

just as justin got home, he received an email from jamie at the first place requesting a second interview.

i'd been praying that the Lord would simply let His will be done. I had no idea what would be good in this situation, only He did. justin called me and told me about the next interview and that he was going in straightaway. i starting praying and praying and praying. i wanted him to get this job. but i only wanted it if it was the Lords will...

he got the job!!!!! i'm soooooooooo excited. God is so good to us. this is above and beyond what we could have hoped for. all i asked the Lord for was what i needed. He is so good to provide things that are extra. i couldn't help but sing the song "great is thy faithfulness" in my head all evening after i got the call. I am continually amazed at the nature of my Heavenly Father. i know i shouldn't be, but its difficult considering my nature. even as i was trusting him in the job situation i was simultaneously worrying about the money for groceries once our rent went up.

i am such a silly one to worry about these things. i am worth more than sparrows to Him. they have everything they need. shouldn't i know i have much more than i need and i don't have to worry? its against Him in every way to worry as it is doubting his sovereignty. but such is my human nature. He is gracious, however, in teaching me slowly (as i am slow to learn) that He will provide. and that He has.

and while i know that i'm just trading some old problems in for new ones, my new prayer is one of thankfulness. also for wisdom and stewardship of what He's given me. i would hate to throw what He's given me in His face by going crazy.

last night in the car on the way home from buying shirts and slacks and work necessities i told justin i was scared for him. he asked me why.... "now you're going to have to pretend to be grown up."

random thoughts

so last night justin and i sat down to watch a movie together. this hardly ever happens anymore with his hectic school/homework/work schedule. he had borrowed the new version of halloween from his friend.

now, i LOVE scary movies. i'm a big fan of the original halloween. i thought that this would be a great twist. but holy cow, was this not something i needed to sit through. there was so much language i found myself not being able to focus on the movie but only on how horrible it was. apparently i was saying so too, because justin asked me, very annoyed, if i wanted to just turn it off. it was so, well, raunchy. man i sound like my mom. i told him no. i didn't want to miss out on this chance to cuddle on the couch with my husband.

but really, the best thing would have been to turn it off. i gained nothing from it. it did no justice to the original. it didn't even make me jump. and i should have known it was going to be as crude as it was because rob zombie directed it. the main reason i should have turned it off is because i could have been an example and i wasn't. i was selfish. i wanted to cuddle. i also didn't want to annoy justin by turning it off.

hopefully i won't be in that position again. we tend to be very lax on what we watch simply because we don't have any children in the house. but that's not really a great excuse. my dad used to talk about how you always remember the bad things you see on tv, and how they come back into your mind when you least want them to. of course i thought he was being a controlling mean dad, but he was right. that's the whole reason i'm writing this out. i was sitting reading someone's blog and suddenly a scene from that wretched movie popped into my head. there was no catalyst, it just happened. the devil knows what he's doing. why let me concentrate on Bible verses when i could be distracted by filth.

i tend to watch a lot of cartoons simply for this reason. they're not dirty or depressing and they rarely, if ever, have a storyline that is necessary to follow along with. also a lot of cooking shows are good, and nature shows. i really just need to cut down on tv altogether.

so this is a bunch of rambling...sorry. just sorta talking to myself about what an idiot i can be. i'm gonna go turn on some cartoons.

riley

i promised better pictures of riley, and here are some...he's a very good model and attack kitten.







notice pierre has already given him a scratch on the nose!






check out the teeth! i love how much he'll tolerate me taking his picture.


fred was on the chair above us getting very annoyed with the camera.



we're keeping riley, if you can't tell...pierre and riley are such great pals.

if by chance anyone wants to see more pictures of riley or to see more of fred telling us how mad she is, just hop on over to my flickr page... www.flickr.com/thealmightybetherson
fred is in the "babies" set and riley has a set of his own. plus you can check out my unedited pics from my recent nyc trip. i haven't even organized them yet!

also, please keep justin and i in your prayers as we're looking for a new residence. my mom has decided to sell, and has given us a months time to vacate. also pray for justin as he's going through interviews with possible new jobs in his field of programming.. this is a very volatile time for us and its definitly pointing me to the Lord's grace as i need it more and more. thank goodness He shows me His mercy in all of this. i'm so glad that i have Him...i don't know how those who are unsaved and know nothing of His grace can handle situations like this. if i didn't have Him to lean on, i'd be crazy! well, crazier than i already am, you know.