Taxes

Wow....what a messed up year to do taxes. Income from 3 states, one being self-employed income...sweet. Finally got my federal and Illinois state taxes done a few weeks back and tonight I decided to get my Ohio state taxes done......what a mess. You know that little question mark icon you can click on to 'supposedly' get an explanation as to what in the world every step means??? Ya, well, someone forgot to tell them that in defining a term, you don't use the term in the definition. Wow...I thought we learned that in middle school. By the time I got to the summary page and read what I owed, I just didn't care....get it done and over with...take more of my money cause you've taken my sanity. Then I thought, hey, I'll get the school district taxes done as well....haha...this one's funny.....the school district I lived in in Ohio wasn't even on there....nope....not at all.....large city school in Columbus, the capitol of Ohio mind you, wasn't even on there. Oh but wait! Riverside, graduating class of maybe 70, if they're lucky, was on there, and good 'ole Ben Logan but not a major city school. These people are awesome! So what have I learned this year in doing my taxes??? A.) Pay someone to do them and B.) Never move states again......ever.

Fire Hazard

Brad was making macaroni the other night and I was trying to warm my hands over the pot of boiling water. He thought it'd be fun to see if he could ignite an empty carton of oj by placing it on the hot coils of the stove. Success...it ignited...pretty quickly. Well, it must have also ignited my hoodie. I noticed a bit later that my hoodie was warm and when I looked down, saw that there was a huge black print from where it had been burnt. It definitely put a hole in it. Lol....all we could do was laugh, even though I was bummed my hoodie no longer looked nice. So ya....if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen.

Exhaustion Week

This past week has been one of those that you didn't see coming.....you thought everything would be fine, like normal, but it hit you like a ton of bricks.....work, students, parents, friends/relationships, family, and money. It all hit and so now I'm asking that you would pray for me. Things are very stressful and a bit overwhelming right now and it's going to be a difficult month. I know that God will provide and carry me through it but it's a struggle to fully believe that and have faith in that. Thanks y'all.

Saturday Grocery Shopping

Saturdays are when I do the bulk of my shopping since I work during the week and usually am at the school pretty late. I have found that the things I love about shopping are the encounters I make with other shoppers. I love to people watch but you have to be careful that it doesn't appear to be staring. Smiling helps this. When I make eye contact I try to smile and I almost always get a smile in return. This past Saturday I was in Aldi's (thank God for that store!) and was waiting for an older man to move past the eggs so I could get some and was trying to practice patience and just wait for him to get done. He sensed me waiting and said, "Are you waiting for me to move?" "Oh, you're fine!" I said so as not to be rude. He looked down a second and then popped his head back up when I said that and replied, "Well, you're not too bad yourself!" I laughed and thanked him. Love those brief meetings with people. As I made my way to the front to pay, I was in line behind a cute older couple trying to get everything from their cart. A box of Kleenex fell on the floor inbetween their cart and the counter. The little lady moved the cart and her husband slowly lowered himself to the ground to retrieve the box, obviously having some trouble bending but made it. He stood back up and looked at me and said, "Now I know what giraffs feel like!" I laughed and agreed with him. "You ever seen a giraff get water?" "Yes I have; they have to spread out their legs to get lower." He laughed and agreed with me.

You see, I've found that the older generation still takes time to make small talk with strangers, whether it's hitting on someone or joking about their body, but I enjoy it. I think we've forgotten how to do this. We get so rushed to just get our stuff and leave, we forget to smile at the little boy in the cart with his mom, help someone pick up spilled items, be patient for another person to move, or give someone our cart at Aldi...quarter and all. I call these random acts of kindness and it's through these small things that we can show the love of Christ. Do it. I enjoy grocery shopping so much more.

Armed and Dangerous: part II

So I went shooting this morning. My principal and his brother-in law, who also teaches at ACS, showed me how to shoot. The first thing I shot was the 12 gauge. Holy crap I'm never shooting that thing ever again! The bruise on my arm is still growing and boy does it hurt. Talk about a kick. It scared me so bad. Wish I would have went with my dad....there's a level of comfort with learning that kind of stuff with your dad as opposed to a friend. I shot the 20 gauge and that wasn't bad. Hit what I was aiming for (ya, that's rare). Then we shot the handgun and that was much, much better. Definitely something I can handle and not feel overwhelmed. I'm keeping that one and the 12 gauge is going home, never to be handled by this chica again. I plan on practicing the handgun so that I actually feel comfortable shooting it if I ever needed to. Even though I HATED shooting the 12 gauge, it was good for me to really feel and understand the power behind that gun and realize what it can do. glad I'm done with that!

Armed and Dangerous

Some of you might recall a time a few years back when the infamous Jones House of IWU had a peeping tom. Well, folks, it seems I have the same luck in Illinois. Sunday night a man in my apartment complex (let's call him Bob because we'll come back to him) came to my door and told me he saw a man outside my window behind the bushes looking in. The man apparently ran off when he realized he'd been spotted. I kinda freaked. I was on the phone with Jonathan so I immediately hung up and called the police who came out and looked around (didn't find anyone....no duh....they don't usually wait around) and questioned 'Bob'. They've never had any peeping tom incidences at my apartment complex and were a bit suspicious of 'Bob'. Apparently he was intoxicated and made mention of things like 'the angle of my blinds' that bothered the police. They told me to be cautious around this man. Well, there was no way I wanted to stay another minute at my apartment so I called a friend and he and two other guys came over to 'escort' me out. Perfect. I ended up sleeping on their couch for the next 3 nights......orders from mom (haha). I woke up Monday morning to my phone ringing and found out that my mom was currently in Indy on her way up to bring me not one, but two guns! WHAT!?!?!? So I had to drive to my uncle's about and hour and a half away and pick up a .22 caliber handgun and a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun. For those of you who don't know about guns, the first one will mame, probably not kill. The second will kill....no questions asked. My uncle also gave me mace. The next day I found out, though, that in the state of Illinois, I must have a firearm ownership identification card to legally own a gun....oops. So that's getting processed right now and the guns are in my trunk. A few days ago I found a note under my door from 'Bob' saying he wanted to talk to me about what he saw and what I should do and that he had a daughter my age. Call him?!? Ya right. This is a man who left me a threatening note on the washer after I removed his clothing because they were sitting in there. He doesn't know it was me...but I know it was him. I made a recent curtain purchase at Ikea and will soon be getting alarms for my windows and door so that if anyone even touches them, the alarm will go off. Overreacting? Overly cautious? Nope, you really can't be when you're a 22 year old girl living alone in Aurora, IL. So tomorrow: I'm learning to shoot those guns.

It's all about Him

When the debate over 'Merry Christmas' versus 'Happy Holidays' started, I immediately got defensive and hated that so many stores were not calling Christmas trees by their real name, nor wishing customers a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays seemed so generic. But why was I upset? Because it wasn't the 'traditional' thing to say or because I felt it was taking away from the real reason for the season?? Well, if I'd have really done some studying, I'd have known that I, like so many others, was wrong...really wrong. I learned Christmas Eve (thanks to Dad ) that Holiday really means Holy Day. Hmm...who knew? Interesting how quick we are to get defensive and cause a comotion that probably just raises more fists towards the church than it lowers them. Sometimes we are so quick to 'try' and keep things Christ centered that we forget WHY we should be. Would Jesus want us to fight to keep lame-o pine trees from being called Holiday trees or show the love of Jesus to others by providing food for the needy and creating a Christmas for those who have none? I think the church as a whole needs to reevaluate its focus. In fact, I need to reevaluate my focus. And it shouldn't just stop at Christmas....my intentions behind every word, action, espression, gift and reaction should be to spread the love of Christ.