A year ago.

Me on the left with a few co-workers about this time last year.

Since this picture was taken I've:

• Made it to the one year anniversary with my company!!!! I had my doubts at times but it's paid off.
• Adopted the best dog ever. She's curled up on the couch right now. She's so incredibly adorable AND well behaved! Jac is totally worth the $150 bucks I paid for her last January.
• Bought at least a hundred dog toys since then. Most of which have been consumed.
• Cut my hair even shorter. Not sure why....
• Moved to a different location with work.
• Quit my part-time job.
• Moved to a different apartment. Considered and re-considered breaking my current lease....
• Decorated for Christmas again.
• Made new friends that I don't know how I ever lived without. Lost touch with a few friends I thought I could never live without.
• Attended a couple of awesome weddings. They are indeed dropping like flies. Except more gracefully.
• Killed a bazillion big nasty southern bugs in my apartment.
• Joined my church. Joined the church choir-- poor people...
• Lost my camera. Rejoiced when Dad found my camera 6 months later (in my car).
• Come to the conclusion that living near family is more important than living in a nice climate. I've actually been thinking about moving further south (FL) which I thought I would never do, being a Michigander at heart.

It's been a good year. God has seen me through. He is always good. I look forward to another year and hope that I will make it even better than the last by following my Saivor even closer.

Я не могу читать по-русский!

I have made posting on this site most difficult... at some point in the distant past, I set a setting to Russian somewhere, thinking "this will help me practice my Russian".... it didn't work out that way.... instead, all the important links on my blogger dashboard appear in Russian and I have no idea what they say... nice huh?!? Worst part is I only have myself to blame.

I must be getting older

As a child, I was indoctrinated with the idea that time would continue to speed up with each passing year. We all know that this is not the case, yet on a day to day basis I find myself comiserating with my customers on how quickly Fall has gone by this year.
It is well known that time moves faster in the eyes of adults than in the eyes of children. What is it that creates this illusion?
Size perhaps- adults are closer to the clock hung high on the wall, so it appears to move at a quicker pace... doubtful.
'Adults are busier.' I don't know - as a kid going to school, I got up at least an hour earlier than I do now, I walked to school, did home work and chores, and played relentlessly until bedtime... my "schedule" was quite full.
As a child I long awaited the adult stuff in life- getting to drive, not having to go to school, living on your own, etc., etc. Now I would give anything to go back to the carefree life of just being a kid. So anyhow, this time going to quickly thing must be wrapped up in the cares and responsibilies aspect of adult life. My question now is how can we adults get back a child's perspective of time without failing to fulfill our work and family related responsibilites?
Is it possible? Or maybe I am rambling endlessly because I've lost my mind- another sign of getting old..........

-the little things that made today enjoyable-

I made a new friend at work today. I had lunch with an old friend. Watched a movie with my sister. Found an unsuspecting soul that got to hear all about my Russia trip while flipping through my photo album. Had a great talk with a friend on the phone. Left another friend an insanely long voicemail message that made her laugh. Ate an Oscar Myer CHEESE hotdog and washed it down with a coke. Got two great parking spaces, one for both of our cars, right in front of our apartment. I spent quality time with my puppy dog. I get to go to bed and sleep until 9am!

The stupidity of the human race astounds me. Myself included.
How many times have I given something to the Lord, promising to leave it in His hands- only to wake up the next morning just itching to snatch it back again. As if my worrying helps speed His will along. We live in a society that waits for nothing. Everything must be now or ten seconds ago. I am determined to believe that some things in life are worth waiting for and that God knows exactly how long of a wait is right.
Trust him when dark doubts asail thee.
Trust him when thy strength is small.
Trust him when to simply trust him
Seems the hardest thing of all.
- A poem a missionary shared with me years ago that rings ever true.

"I saw a front porch swing, I heard a dimond ring..."

"...I saw a needle that winked its eye, but I think I will have seen everything when I see an elephant fly!" Ever heard that song? It was a favorite of mine growing up. But that's beside the point. I have indeed heard of everything now. www.primpsalonbar.com I have about decided to drastically change my hair, and have been trying to find a trustworthy individual in the haircutting business. Lisa at the Primp salon was recommended to me by one customer who's hair I admired. Hmmm. Dunno. The place looks a bit fancy for my liking. I'd feel like I had to dress up or something.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! It's off to work I go..."

Have you ever had a "I hate my job" kind of day? Due to circumstances seemingly beyond my control, I've had a few of those lately. Though what is the solution? There's praying that God will help me to change my attitude and outlook. There's daydreaming of the perfect job while at your current job, which inevetiably is interupted all too soon by a customer or fellow employee. There's job hunting on the internet, which we have recently been banned from doing while at work (oops!), and I always seem to be either too tired or busy to do this in the evenings, or get otherwise distracted while on the computer (this post for instance). Then there's the realization that doing what I want to do either requires more ($$$) education or doesn't pay enough to cover my bills. So another day goes by, I go back to work in the morning, and the whole routine begins again.
I have come up with a few remedies. Tell me what you think or add to my list.
Keep praying (obviously).
Find a part-time "I hate my job" kind of deal to see if I can save enough to finish college...
Marry a moderately rich young bachelor. (my personal favorite)
Join the mysterious world of Mystery Shoppers to aid in the finishing college bit.
Keep trying to convince myself that I'll like my job better once I've been there for a full year.
And that's as far as I've gotten.

Looking forward to your input.
Mary Ann

Free Time

I just hung up the phone (or hit 'end' rather) and it informed me that I'd just talked for 01:52:00. Wow, I haven't talked to anyone for that long in... a long time! Now it's about 1 hr & 53 mins past my bedtime, but first-- special thanks goes to God for a great friend - Lindy, and to Verizon for free evening minutes. :)

If I were going to diet, this would be why...

I found a not so little treat in our candy bowl this evening. As Laura and I walked in the door I heard a slight rustle and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I realized that it was coming from the candy bowl on the counter, and the creater of this noise had antennas-- long ones. It was a monsterous beetle like thing. We both stood a good 6 feet from the bowl while we mused over what to do with it. Solution: slap a cutting board on top of the bowl, carry it outside, dump it all upside down, step away, and then return with a flashlight to ensure that just the candy goes back into the bowl. A few minutes later Laura says "So, do you want a Resses?" Uh, no, not tonight anyway.

"Hot Popcorn"

Last night I went to the $1.50 theater with my sister and some friends. We arrived a bit early so we were waiting in the lobby. All of the sudden we heard gasps from one of the concession counters and I felt a gush of hot air. The popcorn machine had burst into flame and it went all the way up to the ceiling! The employees scattered and then one came back with a fire extinguisher. The fire kept popping back up after he sprayed it. It was quite entertaining. We all stood around watching until they kicked us out as the lobby was filled with smoke. Fire trucks came and they finally anounced that no more movies would be showing for the day as they had to get it checked out by a health inspector. We ended up going to our friends' house and watching a movie there. We can reuse our tickets another day this week, so in the end we decided that the whole ordeal made for a much more entertaining evening. Oh, I almost forgot-- directly above the fire there was a neon sign that said "Hot Popcorn" :) Yeah, I'd say! We're planning to go back tomorrow evening to see Oceans 13, but somehow, I think we'll forego the popcorn.

At Last!

The weekend has come once again. I am so thrilled!
For years I wondered how people could hate Mondays so much. Now I understand. I would've liked to remain in my wonderment. Man, I've got to find a job that I enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I work with awesome people. It's just that I don't feel I'm making much of a difference for the kingdom. That combined with lots of stress is enough to crush one's spirit. Some days I long for the closeness I felt with God when I was doing mission work. I miss Him. I know He hasn't gone anywhere, I guess I've just gotten busy. Something to work on anyway. And a new job is still in order, as I get tired of being preasured to encourage people into debt- if I wouldn't get a loan or credit card myself, how can I in good conscience tell others to?