Lianne's Little Corner

So I want to move to California. No, that's not really all that random. This past Thursday, July 3, our family got home from a road trip out to California and back. DH had a conference in Anaheim, so we decided we’d make a vacation out of it. (No, we didn’t go to Disneyland. Well, not the paying part. We did go to Downtown Disney, so we can honestly say we’ve been to the original Disneyland. ☺) I’ll be perfectly honest. Anaheim was just ok. It was a lot like Orlando, but with uglier palm trees and a much better climate (no spirit crushing humidity to take the fun out of “the happiest place on earth”). DH had some time off in the evenings, so we went with friends south to a quaint, historic town called Temecula. Hot during the afternoon, but the evening was lovely. We had dinner outside, and it was breezy and cool, turning colder as the sun began to set. When they lit a fire in a fire pit right by our table, it was very welcome. LOVED it. Spent another evening with the same frie...

I think we're finally getting used to being in South Florida. It's still not where I'd rather be, but it's not as bad as it seemed when we first got here. Yesterday DD2 was about fed up with having a pool close by, but not being able to go into it. Last week the two girls got up early every day to go help out with VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the church we've started attending here. (A good thing, too, because unknown to us, they have to have accumulated a certain amount of "community service" hours to graduate from high school!) They would get back home in the afternoons just in time...for thunder showers. Can't go in the pool with lightening! So yesterday we went to the pool. Put on our 30 SPF sunscreen...and got our first BURN of the season. I guess the "won't come off in the water" line is just a myth. So today we were going to put on our winter coats and hats to keep from burning more, and go bike riding. (Ok, so I was kidding abou...

Well, I hope to be, anyway. :) Although we're not exactly settled in--there are still boxes everywhere--we're in our new place, have the internet set up (finally!) and my kitchen is in order and I'm able to cook in it now. So I figured it was time to get busy online again. This has been quite a move. A huge adjustment, to say the least. And there are plenty more adjustments awaiting us. I still have to get my girls registered in schools down here, and in August I'll be going back to work full time. The first full-time, outside the home job in 15 years. It'll be a HUGE adjustment for my family as well, to not have me at their beck and call at any time. I hope they handle it ok. Ha! I hope I handle it ok. So yesterday we had our first gator sighting. It took longer than I expected. There's a pond/lake (whatever you want to call it...I think it's man-made, whatever it is) behind our apartment. We were told that occasionaly the gators would appear, especially af...

I realize I'm late getting this up today, but I don't want the day to go by without posting this. This was written by my pastor and dear friend, Chaplain (col) Larry McCarty, who serves as a chaplain in the US army. I asked his permission to post it here. I cried as I read it, and I wanted to share. So no more from me. Read what Larry had to say. Last week was a good week but a very sad one. President Bush came to (Fort) Bragg for the 82nd Airborne Division Pass and Review. He then participated in the Division Memorial Service. I was able to be at both events. A few images are burned into my mind. On Thursday morning The President reviewed the 15,000 plus troops and then headed back to the podium. Everybody stood up to get a good look. I noticed one little boy who could not see due to the crowd and the fence. As the President passed by I picked the boy up so that he could get a good look. The boy was so appreciative. He gave me a hug and then he said, "Thanks Mister...my d...

Someone on my writer's list sent a link to this YouTube video. I was curious and went to watch. What a hoot! I'm not going to spend alot of time writing so you can have plenty of time to watch this. It's one woman's interpretation about the descriptions Solomon gave of his beloved in the Song of Solomon. But no more from me. Watch. :) Have a great day.

I went out this morning to take some pictures of the lovely spring flowers and foliage around here. Who knows when I'll see some REAL spring again. I mean, it'll be eternal summer down in Florida, which will be pretty, I'm sure. But there's something special about those first buds and blooms after a long, hard winter. I wanted it well documented. I even filmed a little, just so I could get the sound of the birds. We're supposed to get thunderstorms this afternoon so I knew I had to get to it right away. Isn't that the way it is with life, though? The trees have been getting prettier and prettier until they went into full bloom in the past couple of days. I kept telling myself I had to get pictures before the blooms all died...or blew or were washed away. There was always tomorrow. Until today. I don't know if the rain and wind really will remove the blooms from the trees, but I didn't want to risk it. As I walked through the park down behind our house, I...

On Saturday we saw something I've only ever seen in pictures. A mama duck was crossing the road with her little ducklings all in tow. It was a busy street, where cars zoom by, and poor mama and babies might not have stood a chance. Except there was a sweet man, whose name I don't know, who decided to do something to help. He was in a white van and he pulled his vehicle across two lanes and got out stopping trafic until the ducks had passed. My only regret was that I didn't get the camera out of my purse in time to snap a picture. But it was a cute little procession, and admirable of the man who stopped to help them out. We've been watching alot of the Animal Planet lately, and we see so much ugliness that's done to innocent animals. Sometimes it's just neglect, sometimes the owners are poor or elderly and either can't take care of their pets or just don't realize what's really happening. But then there are cases that just make you want to strangle pe...

I had a little digression this week. I apologize. There was just so much going on around here that I didn't get around to posting. But I'm back for today and hope to be back again on Monday. Tomorrow I get to meet up with a bunch of other authors. Woo-hoo! A group of about 10 or so writers in the area are getting together at a restaurant to just chat writing and see what we can do to help each other. I'm really looking forward to it. It's not often I get the chance to meet with other odd balls writers. So I should have plenty to blog about after that. Last night was opening night for my DD1's musical. It's an old musical that was put out in movie form in 1966. We rented the movie, and found it to be rather inappropriate for high school kids to put on. So we went not expecting much, but going to support our daughter. But what fun! We laughed so hard. It's amazing the talent some of these young kids have. I won't be surprised if some day we see some of th...

Congratulate me. It's my 18th wedding anniversary! :) Oh, well maybe you should congratulate my DH. Or give him your condolences. Poor guy. He's put up with alot over the years. The move to Florida is 99% a sure thing. I say 99% because the contract hasn't actually been signed, and ya never know what could happen. And you know what? I'm ok with it. I'm glad this whole process is over. Now we begin to think of the transition and moving. Now I find my gypsie blood beginning to stir, anxious to get moving since the decision has been made. So I won't say a whole lot today. I've got work to do around the house and for the new proposal I'm working to get together. Have a great week. I wish you sunshine and blue skies. Especially to Marianne, who's had way too much snow this winter.

Ok, I confess. Nothing mysterious here today, I just thought that title might be a grabber. *G* But I do want to chat about plotting today. For many years I proudly proclaimed myself a SOTP writer. (SOTP = Seat Of The Pants). I would get the germ of a story and sit and write and see where the story and characters would take me. Ah...writing was fun and carefree. I couldn't wait to get back into the story to find out what was going to happen. Odd, maybe, since I was creating it. But that's how it was for me. It was almost like reading a book, except that I didn't even have the option of looking at the end to see what would happen. (No, I don't do that. But with a book it's always an option.) I really miss those days of carefree writing, and I realize back then, my writing was mostly for my own enjoyment. I guess it could almost have been classified as a hobby. I didn't see it that way, but I also didn't know the rules of writing. Now I do. I'm seeking to ...

I just discovered my new favorite song. It's from Casting Crown's latest CD. I heard it for the first time yesterday when I was going to pick up my daughter from school. At first, I found it pretty. But then I listened more closely to the words and I knew it was for me. The words of that song really convicted me because they describe where I am right now. Somewhere in the Middle. And I want to move beyond the middle to the place God wants me to be. So I'm starting now, giving glory to God for all He has done for me. God is so good. Well duh, you say. Of course He is. :) And I know He is, but sometimes He really goes overboard in showing us His goodness. He has blessed me so much recently, despite my ungratefulness. But yesterday He really came through in a bunch of small ways that, added together, equaled a big way. Funny thing, the song came after everything else. As you know, if you've been reading along for awhile here, right now our future is a little uncertain. Bot...

Today I'm going to put my "whining" aside for a bit to rant. Last night as we were flipping back and forth between Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, we saw an advertisement for a news report. Now I didn't actually see this news report, but just the blurb in the advertisement had the hackles up on everyone in my family. Well, except for the dog. But if he'd understood human talk, he would have had his hackles up too. The blurb was about a report of a doctor who claims that lying is a sign of intelligence. Huh??? Granted, as I've already said, I didn't see the actual report so I don't know where this doctor was going with this. But frankly, I don't care. You tell someone that lying shows their intelligence, you're making lying into something good. One doesn't have to believe the Bible, as I do, to know that lying is wrong. Many people think that "a little white lie" doesn't hurt anyone (not me...I don't believe in th...

I admit, I'm trying very hard not to be, but I'm sad. I guess my relapse was worse than I thought. Or then I'm having another one today. I was ok about Florida yesterday, but now that it's a reality, I'm not so ok about it. They called yesterday and offered DH the job. On one hand, I'm glad. I would have been very upset if they turned him down after all this. It would have been a real blow to his self esteem had that happened. So this was a good thing. Of course, that put DH in a tailspin. He's still not thrilled with the idea of going to Florida. But in talking through all this, we came to the conclusion that it makes no sense for him to take a job doing something other than what he's sacrificed almost two years of his life to accomplish. We've had a hard two (well, almost 2) years here while he's been doing this chaplain residency. And to do something else, even youth pastoring, would be like throwing it all away. So nothing has been signed yet...

Saturday DH got home from Florida. Things went well. He really liked the hospital and the people with whom he interviewed. They didn't offer him the job yet, but he's feeling confident that they probably will. I thought I had accepted Florida. And until yesterday I had. With no really enticing prospects in other places, Florida seemed, well, Ok. But yesterday DH was looking through some other job listings, and found a position for a youth pastor at a church in...**sigh**...Colorado Springs. He sent out his resume right away, and now we sit and wait. With that hope, of course, I find myself all the way back at square one about Florida...absolutely hating the idea of it. It was never my first choice, of course. I loved the idea of Laconia, NH. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. And now I'm feeling very negative about CS, because I really, really want that! I love working with youth, and I loved CS. DH was so sweet. He's so sick of the cold weather, and I can hardly blam...

I'm glad it's Friday. I'm exhausted. I was up far longer than I should have been last night, writing. With DH gone, I didn't feel the need to rush to bed once the kids were down. Mistake. I have a doctor's appointment this morning at 9:20. I wasn't worried about staying up late because I thought I could just go back to sleep once the kids left for school. Serves me right for not looking at my appointment card BEFORE I decided to stay up. I thought the appointment was at 2:20 for some reason. Must have gotten it mixed up with my appointment on Tuesday. Ack! So now I'm dragging. But maybe it's a good thing it's early. I can go in and get it over with, THEN come home and go to bed. We had a little excitement yesterday when I took DH to the airport. It was raining and snowing, and then just snowing, and we were afraid his flight might have been canceled. It was. Not because of the weather, I'm not sure why it was cancelled. But the bigger problem was...

I am about to run out the door this morning to take DH to pick up a few travel size toiletries, then drop him off at work. This afternoon he's heading down to Florida for a day long (tomorrow) interview with the hospital folk who are looking to hire him. It's not quite official yet, but it's starting to look more and more like Florida will be our next stomping grounds. I'm still for Colorado Springs, but we go where the jobs are. And most importantly, of course, where God leads us. And it seems He's leading us to Florida. He could always close the door. I'm aware of that, but it doesn't look that way. And God has worked in my heart about going to Florida. It's still not my first choice, but I've accepted it, and I'm thinking of all the positives. We'll only be 23 miles or so from Key Largo where we spent our honeymoon. And I absolutely loved it there back then. I wrote yesterday. Over 2000 words. :) I was very happy with myself. But today I n...

It's funny how things come about that put our lives into perspective in a whole new way. Well, I can't speak for anyone but myself. I had a busy day on Monday, my first "real" day back after my trip. And if you read my post on Monday, you know I was whining about having to be back to normal. But yesterday I was going through my email and I found one from a lady who has suffered some very real loss recently, and though she's talking about it, she's not whining. The lady is Darlene Franklin, a member of my writer's list, ACFW. She lost a daughter to suicide, and as a means to try to heal, she's blogging about it. So check out her blog in my list of blog links. Post a comment if you have a moment and the inkling to do so. I know it will mean alot to her. Reading of her loss and her grief, and the grace with which she is dealing with it was very humbling to me. I've lost a loved one, my father, when I was sixteen years old. Cancer. But I've never l...

Maybe I should have posted this yesterday since it was closer to Sunday, but I really wanted to complain about being home instead. lol. Anyway, I posted back in July about my disappointment with how no one seemed to care about the 4th, and how disgusted I was with the commercialism going on when it should have been a day to celebrate out country's independence. So imagine my shock, surprise, marvel when we went to dinner in a restaurant at the mall and everything was closed! Well, not the restaurant, but the stores were closed. Or most of them, anyway. Barnes and Noble and Sears were open. But nothing else. Even Bennigans was closed, which surprised me since it's a restaurant and almost everyone in town was out for lunch. I know many commercial places close for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I didn't think they still closed for Easter. I was very pleased, to say the least, and filled with hope that not all is lost in America after all. :) That said, while we were eating ou...

We're home, now, and trying hard not to be ungrateful. It was a wonderful trip, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. We finished up by going to visit my uncle who lives near Kansas City, MO. It was a nice visit, and he took us into Liberty, MO, to see the first bank that Jesse James and his gang robbed. We didn't take the tour, but we did peek in the window to see what the little room looked like. And I got a couple shots of the girls in front of it. Today we start back into the full swing of things with a VERY busy day. DH has a doctors appointment today at 9 to see an endocrinologist about a possible parathyroid problem that might be causing his kidney stones. Then I get to go for an MRI at 11. Then DH has another doctor's appointment at 2 to see if something other than the possible parathyroid problem is causing the arthrosis in his shoulders and knees. (He's too young to have these kinds of bone problems!) Then at 3:45 DD2 has a dentist appoi...

Well, in the car, of course. :) This morning DH woke me up with a surprise. He got up earlier than everyone else, he said, and started to think that if we left Colorado Springs without going up the Peak, we'd regret it for the rest of our lives. To be sure, the prospect of going up the Peak got everyone hopping out of bed in record time. I really thought the climb would be terribly steep. It was a little in some places, but it would level off then climb a bit again. All in all, it wasn't bad at all, and we made it up and back down again in one piece. Obviously, since I'm posting! lol. They only let us go up part of the way today, I guess because higher up the conditions weren't safe. But that's all right. We got to go up about 13 miles, and truly, that was good enough for us. We stopped at a visitor's center at the 13 mile mark and bought a few souvenirs, and got quite a history lesson from the man who was running the shop. Let me tell you, what inspiration for...