A 'Rawther' Interesting Idea...

I've been doing a lot of thinking for the past...15 hours, I guess.

Stu and I have three goals I would like to at least attempt to meet before we start having kids (which, hopefully, will be in a few years - like 3-5)...they are:

1. For me to finish school (hopefully in May unless I flunk the MATH CLEP)
2. For us to get a house (if possible)
and
3. For me to find a stay-at-home job. I would love to homeschool my kids and I am going to stay home with my babies so I need to find something I can either do at home or just do on the weekends.

For fear of ruining someone's Christmas present, I can't go into a lot of detail but here's what I've been thinking about:

There are some things I have just discovered that I love to do and can do reasonably well. I am wondering if it's possible to have a little side business selling what I am doing now...

I have filled up a few pages of Word Docs with research (thanks, internetz), ideas, guesstimates, and lists of stuff I would need to start this up.

I'm a little scared because this is unknown territory for me - I never wanted to be a sales person and I am a bit of an introvert. However, there are several things I could do to earn money while I'm at home.

Here are some other ideas I came up with:

1. Graphic Design - I know how to use Adobe Photoshop and the newest editions of Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and another program who's name is escaping me at the moment. I can create business cards, flyers, powerpoints, brochures, and newsletters from scratch or from a template. I like doing this and could do it as a job. I already do it as part of my job at Academic Services.

2. Freelance Harpist (of course) - I can teach lessons and play at social functions. This is something I could do on the weekend or limited time throughout the week. (According to how I want to schedule it)

3. Scrapbooks - I scrapbook so if people need/want someone ELSE to do their scrapbooks (which invariably happens when you have a busy life), I can do that - give me the tools and I can create many different, unique, and special layouts and hand you the finished product. (I can also create scrapbooks for out-of-home businesses...)

4. Writing - I could freelance or write for someone - I could publish a book on Lulu.com and see if there is any interest or I can write for a magazine/newspaper...this one is a little more far out since it's not my usual field. I can write, but I don't know what opportunities are out there.

5. and this one is the one I can't talk about until I give Ruth her Christmas present. :) Suffice it to say I am thoroughly enjoying what I am doing and it would be something I would be interested in doing for a long time and it would be something I could do from home. (With a few outside instances to garner publicity and orders).

So that's what I've been thinking about. It's 'rawther' interesting. Guess we'll see where this goes.

Poem

GRANT ME PEACE

God
Why must I
review the scenes
time and time
again?

God
why is it
so hard for me
to let go
of my sin?

Grant
to me
these three things:
forgiveness, peace
and rest,

Grant
that these
be giv'n to me
and I will
be most blest.

Me -
Your child
the one that
hurts
with unrelenting
ache,

Me -
The daughter
of your heart
to heaven you would
take.

Peace
flood my soul,
encompass me,
in seas of
endless light;

Peace
enter me
with quiet calm
and end this
soul's long fight.

It's the Holiday!

Stu and I are leaving for Europe tomorrow! We are going to spend 3 weeks in Spain and perhaps 1 or 2 other countries - maybe France and England, I don't know - with my family, plans change every five seconds. *shrugs* We'll see how it goes.

I don't know how I feel about going to see my family. I was excited for a while but when I started filling Stu in on what we're allowed to talk about/watch/listen and what we're not allowed, and what family jokes he needs to know and who will fight who and all of the situations that arise in a large-ish family...well, I just got a little nervous.

I don't want to be lectured this year. I don't want to get laughed at this year. I don't want to be told that I am going to turn into a Wiccan-Lesbian by reading HP. So it's another three weeks of pretending that I'm not who I am. I can't even tell them what my hubby got me for Christmas. (YOU GOT DICE TO PLAY D&D???? AAAAAAGH!!!)

My poor family. :p I do love them. I think. Sometimes. And I do want to have a great Christmas and New Year's. Thank goodness I have my wonderful Stu to take with me.

I do love our Christmas traditions - we have certain cd's that we listen to (The Carpenter's Christmas Album, Manheim Steamroller's Christmas album, Phillips, Craig & Dean's Christmas album), certain movies we watch (Muppet's Christmas Carol, Rudolph [the Claymation], Charlie Brown Christmas, the cartoon The Grinch that Stole Christmas), and certain foods we eat (olive balls, almond bark-dipped Ritz bites, cranberry sauce, & apple pie), and certain things that we do to get into the holiday spirit (decorate the tree, read Christmas books aloud, light a fire in the fireplace)...We do have a lot of lovely traditions that I can't wait to take part in...so on that note...I am looking forward to Christmas.

PS...I am also way too excited about my Harry Potter FDS next semester...I've already started working on it...:p

Just Say It

Well, I did it.

I filled out the end-of-semester reporty thing but the last page, in which you are supposed to discuss your struggles, I wrote something like this:

"I don't understand how a 21 year old woman is not allowed to dance with her husband at the Church Christmas Ball, or watch his favorite movie with him."

"...Although he respects me for my decision to adhere to standards, I would much rather follow his lead than the school's, and though this has not caused much conflict, I would like to be submissive to my husband instead of the school."

(The above is paraphrased as I didn't type it out on Word)

I didn't try to be disrespectful - I am simply stating what I think.

We'll see how this goes.

Why is Christianity (or what we've made it) so darn complicated?

I'm sitting here at work, pissed.

Because one of my friends, who is 22, hung out with her friend (a guy - who's romantically involved with someone else, I might add) and was told by her older housemate that she was just going to have to make up a rule that "you aren't allowed to be alone with a member of the opposite sex." "Why?" she asked. "Because it makes me uncomfortable...and what will the neighbors think? We have to be good witnesses."

Now...

I see both sides of this issue. I UNDERSTAND that we are to be Christ's witnesses here on earth.

I also understand that Jesus probably had a bad reputation and honestly, I think if people talk it's their problem. As long as God and I work on not sinning, that's good. People are going to talk and you're not going to please everyone.

BUT

My friends' parents, co-worker, and a lot of older people would agree with her housemate. Why? Are we just more immoral than the older generation?

Or

Are we less concerned about appearance and more concerned about the truth?

I'm not dissing older people - I have LOTS of friends who are 50+. I just know they would be HORRIFIED if they knew how much alone time I spent w/ my husband before we were married. For the record, we didn't do anything I regret. We didn't have premarital sex and honestly, it wasn't much of a temptation because I didn't want to spoil our marriage relationship because of a stupid mistake.

It's true - people our age are very stupid. They have pre-marital sex,do drugs and drink irresponsibly and sure, we do a lot of stupid crap we'll regret later.

But I think we are tired of just keeping up appearances. Love us for who we are instead of how we look.

I think that's what's at the bottom of all these jumbled knots in my stomach. It's hard to know what the right thing is to do - my poor friend feels like her parents and the older generation have a lot of authority over her and while she doesn't want to cause conflict, she did hate the way her housemate went about securing her house against males (I say she's just jealous - girls are like that). I mean, seriously, now you have to worry about being with the SAME sex, let alone with the opposite.

On the other hand...I do know some people that have made poor choices - but being yanked away from society with the other sex while growing up...does that really help? Kids need to be taught how to think - how to make tough decisions and deal with the consequences. That's what I want for my children. I want them to know that whatever they do, I love them and that they have to make these decisions for themselves. I just hope they have enough sense to make the right choices.

For me, it's a matter of simple common sense. "Premarital sex hurts your marriage? Really? Oh. I see that played out in older peoples' relationships. I see the practicality of waiting until marriage. Ok." Why do some kids with great parents turn out so bad and why do some kids who have horrible parents turn out ok?

I don't know what the difference is...

But I wish people would be more like Jesus. Mostly I wish I was more like Jesus. Because then I would know what to do in a situation like this.

Sigh.

Here's what I think, after reading this through a few times (sorry for the anger vomit):

I think being a good witness and keeping yourself above reproach is following what Christ said: loving others as much as yourself and loving Him above everything. I think that means we can avoid temptation as much as we want but that we WILL be tempted. No matter how hard we try not to remain in the same room with the opposite sex. I think Jesus probably didn't appear a stellar character. But he WAS. I want to be a testimony of God's grace and goodness - and you know what? I think this situation is like when gentiles and Jews were arguing about circumcision. New believers don't need a whole tome of rules thrown at them - they need to know that Christ loves them and that He is there when you are confused about crap like this.

I'm going to go talk to Him about this.

What does loving your neighbor and God look like when it comes to situations like this?

Holiday Shopping is Complicated

This is another entry about the difference between boys and girls. It's such a fascinating subject and I've been discussing various topics related to males/females recently so here we go:

Girls are notoriously easier to shop for than boys. Chocolate, clothes, pamper products (as in: Bath & Bodyworks), jewelry...any of these are good choices for most girls. (Also note: I am not most girls. I don't like B&B and I think clothes are boring. Buy me an old book or something). Most girls aren't that picky either.

While a friend and I were shopping yesterday, we ran into problems with gift ideas for our spouses. Boys are hard to shop for! And if we don't find something they like, they return it, and we get our feelings hurt.

So what to do?

Please note:

1. I'm not dissing the guys - this post is to help girls figure out how to shop for their significant others/friends/relatives/etc.

We all know how guys answer the question "What do you want for Christmas?" Either with something silly or "I don't know." Rarely do we get a specific answer. SO, while talking to my husband this morning (while he was half-asleep - he's so adorable when he's tired...ok, ok, sorry), I learned these 2 important things:

1. Guys are, above all, tactical. If they don't get what they like, they get what they want. They just don't think to consider female emotions and they're not trying to hurt our feelings. They just want something else!

2. Be VERY VERY specific when asking them what they want. "Do you want a scarf?" "Maybe." "A long scarf?" "Yes." "A red one?" "No." "A black one?" "Yes." This will also make it easier on us, because now we know exactly what they want: a long, black scarf.

Don't get your feelings hurt if they want to return the gift - just pay attention to what they get and remember to be specific next year!

Anybody have any other advice/knowledge about this process?

Chuck vs. Psych: An Interesting Note on Guys

This isn't a post about how boys are dumb and girls are smart. Just something I noticed while watching back-to-back episodes of Chuck (Chuck vs. the Sensei) and Psych (most notably Christmas Joy).

First, some background:

1. Chuck - Chuck and Sarah, his FBI handler, have "feelings" for each other. However, since Sarah's past is a mystery and seems to remain that way, Chuck decides he wants a "normal" life - so when his ex comes back in town, they get back together. (Needles to say, it's a disaster)

2. Sean likes Julie or "Jules", a police detective that he works with. Although you can tell there's chemistry, she keeps negativing Sean's hints. So when his friend's sister comes back in town, they revisit a tryst they kept 10 years ago. Again - a disaster.

Why do Chuck and Sean go back to the old when clearly they are in love w/ the new girls in their lives? Why do they both make mistakes? And why don't they see that the girls really do like them?

I just feel like...girls wouldn't do that.

Is it because boys need encouragement to keep going, while girls, once they get encouragement, seem to get tired of the game?

It's rather curious and I was just wondering.

Anyone know anything about male/female psychology when it comes to situations like this? I found it odd that 2 shows highlighted the same situation...

Anyway...not to say males/females have it wrong when it comes to these relationship issues...I'd just never thought about it before. ...Interesting.