Quotes

Taryn inspired an idea with her last post. I'm going to be putting funny quotes I hear people say. Your job is to guess who said it. Ready for today's?

"I'm 100% 50/50."

Your choices:

A. Your mom
B. Leah Stoller
C. Angela from work
D. Martney Stickling

no more, no less

So I've been studying/doing homework for hours now. I needed some distraction. So I emerged from the Nat Cave. Luckily, Reid and Becca were over and with them, Ashley and Kelsey, I was perfectly and utterly distracted from my responsibilities.

I talked to Reid about his alternative rock music presentation. I watched the very end of "The Wedding Singer". Made a bag of expired popcorn and ate it. Talked about Heartland classes with Becca. And played real life Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with Kelsey, which apparently, I'm amazing at. Probably the best part of the entire distraction time period.

Now I'm gonna do some homework. Lovin' ya'll.

My Exciting Tuesday

This morning I woke up at 6:30, stumbled out of bed and headed to Justin's to pick him up for Prayer Meeting. My first one, mind you. We arrived and had a great meeting, praise and supplications were raised to the One on high. Immediately following, we journeyed next door to Will, Darrell, and Troy's place for an amazing breakfast of fruit and french toast. It was quite a blessed breakfast. The french toast was a delight.

At 9:30 I went to my Math class. Successful day. Except for some reason I kept laughing throughout class. We're split into groups and I'm in a group with a guy who always helps me out cuz I'm not very good at math and a deaf girl who has an interpreter with her. I found everything funny, which I think boosted the morale of the entire group. Much math was accomplished.

I then ventured to my Music Appreciation class. Justin and I have this class together. While walking down the hall, the following conversation occurred:
Me: Have you registered for fall classes yet?
Him: Nope, not yet
Me: Do you know what classes you're going to be taking?
Him: Natalie, that's like asking a raccoon what garbage he's going to find in the garbage can and eat.
Me: -puzzled look and then laughter the rest of the way to class probably disrupting all the classes along the way because of my high-pitched laugh-

I then drove to Dr. Gratkins to work. More like I drove to the hospital and walked to the office. Anywayz... They want me to start doing more hours... like a lot more hours. Like come in three days a week! I know, crazy. But I'd be doing fun stuff like getting to work with patients instead of just mindless filing. And I'd get more money. Which is definitely a delight.

I then came back to my apartment and waited for Will to come pick me up to go tutor the kids we tutor every week. Me, Ashley, Will, Justin, and Prevo all learned about protecting yourself from harmful drug poisons in your home. We learned the difference between windshield wiper fluid and mouthwash. It was actually quite educating.

Then Reid came over and brought us some dessert from work. He works at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. He is definitely a blessing in my life and we've become much closer since his new job. Then Kelsey and I watched "America's Funniest Home Videos". I used to hate this show and thought it was so corny. Now I can't stop laughing when I watch it. You seriously can not get better entertainment. I don't know if I was cooler back then and thought only really funny things were funny and now I'm a loser who is really boring. I think what it is though is that I went through a stage where only cool things were funny and AFV was just not funny. Now I'm comfortable enough with myself to laugh when I want to as loud as I want to. Yeah, that must be it.

Then Kelsey convinced me to work out with her. She's so sweet, she always asks if I want to come, and I usually tell her no. But tonight I had absolutely no excuse, so I went. We took my radio with my girls' CD in it totally ready to jam out to some awesome tunes. We walk in and there's three HUGE guys in there lifting. -We sighed heavy sighs-
Me: You guys mind if we turn on some music?
Them: No, that sounds great.
I turn on some country. They looked like the country-music-loving type boys.
We work out for a while. Well, Kelsey does most of the working out. I usually just wander around the weight room looking at the weights and treadmill, but I couldn't tonight. I had to do something cuz there were other people there.
I grow frustrated and want my music.
Me: You guys mind if I put in my CD?
Them: No, that's cool.
Me and Kelsey: It's kinda a girl mix. Well, actually a lot girl mix.
Them: Um... I guess that's OK.
Me: It's really motivating.
They didn't get out another word before "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper was blaring from my radio. I jump back on the treadmill and start off again, totally happy.
Them: You're right. This makes this so much easier.
Me: -smile- Yep.
Needless to say, they only made it through one round of Cyndi Lauper and halfway through Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman"
And they departed.

Wow, this is a long post. All in all, it was a good day. The Lord is good, the Lord is merciful, and I'm sure the Lord likes to laugh right along with me. Which makes me happy to think about.

Hope you all had good days as well! God Bless

Lovin' ya'll

Inventory

When every December rolls around and Dad always asks me the same question. Not, "What do you want for Christmas, Natalie?" It's, "Natalie, are you gonna be able to help with inventory over break?"

I know if I say yes, I'm going to have to be in Pontiac every morning at 7:30, and that thought just makes me sick to my stomach. If I say no, he's going to ask what else I'm doing. And my response will have to be... "Um, sleeping?" And then he gives me the, "Oh, Natalie. You're probably the least reponsible and hardest to get out of bed of all my kids," look. And then I feel bad and end up doing it.

So I show up in Pontiac, half asleep with my nasty jeans and CASE IH shirt on. I get paired up with one of the guys that work there and we go to work. We switch on and off reading serial numbers to each other while the other flips through stacks of papers, looking for the item.

"A1890374".

"Yep, how many?" he asks.

"Five."

Sometimes it's the right amount, other times it's more like 50. We throw the wrong items into a bin and the guys figure it out later. It's usually not so bad, depending on which employee I get to work with. Jack who keeps me laughing or Mike with no personality. When we get back into the dusty bottom shelves of the last row in the back of the service department, things get pretty icky. Parts for tractors that probably don't even run anymore. But we still have to take inventory on them.

As I was thinking of taking inventory lately, I was thinking of the inventory of my heart. What items do I have in there? Pride, bitterness, jealousy? Or love, forgiveness, and joy? Would I be embarrassed if somebody took inventory on my heart and they had to read off, "Resentment"?
How many would they get if they read off "Grudges" compared to "Acts of Kindness"?

What items are hid in the corners of my heart that nobody can see but me and Jesus? What items are in there that should be thrown in the bin? They can sit for years (or in the case of inventory, one year) but eventually, God will take inventory on my heart. To see what's inside and what's not.

So I challenge you and I to take inventory on our hearts in the next week or so. Really examine what you have in there, not just what other people see because it's so easy to hide or cover up our shortcomings. We are to be like Christ, not just spiritually "good enough" to get by.

Hope you all have wonderful weekends. God Bless!

Love ya'll.