Off My Wall: Sbux Ped Politics Spirit Football Pray

Random shareworthies on my mind and off my FB wall:

* PUMPKIN SPICE IS BACK AT SBUX! ♥ My tall 5-pump chai has transitioned into a tall chai with an extra pump of pumpkin spice.

* We had our first non-well-check ped visit in AGES on Tuesday: Will sounded awful, coughing & like he was having a hard time breathing, on top of the fact that he cut his foot in FIVE places (two really bad) on a rock at the beach the day before. I was ready for us to have to shell out $$$$$$ to replace the albuterol nebulizer our movers *LOST* and for Will to scream his head off again & be scarred for life, having to get his wounds flushed out. Neither was the case! It was a 20-minute total visit; Will was out of school less than an hour. His foot showed no signs of infection & the ped didn't touch it; we just needed to soak it at home. [JB also used his former-player expertise to wrap Will's foot really well all week, so he didn't even miss any football practice!] Then, even as bad as Will sounded, he was NOT wheezing! (Huge!) He had just lost his voice w/ allergies. Both kids are also old enough now to use albuterol in this holding chamber-tube-thing instead of a nebulizer the few times a year they get sick & need the extra intervention; so we did NOT have to buy a new neb, AND Dr. White gave us the chamber & albuterol free samples! Praise the Lord!!!

* Two pics from our arrival Monday at the Pleasure Pier, (pre-foot-cutting. :-P)

* I hate talking politics, b/c I don't believe anything I "argue" will change "the other side's" mind; I feel like it just causes rude rifts in relationships. I do have few political notes, though, but they're not partisan or divisive. :-D
...Read this amazing article - 7 Things Christians Need to Remember About Politics: How to be in the world, not of the world, in a culture of political vitriol. It’s time we talk politics in a way that models the teachings of Jesus rather than mocks them.
...A beautiful convention benediction that echoes my heart - Praying for the Nation
...It was SO COOL to see one of my sweet college girlfriends sitting beside one of *her* oldest BFFs, Chelsea Clinton, Wednesday night at the DNC! I squealed when I saw Elizabeth on TV! :-D

* FURIOUS!!!!!!!!! Someone stole my Redskins cling off the back of our van!!!!!!! I honestly feel violated. AND ANGRY!!!

I can't even blame it on being in cowboys country, b/c this is Texan land, and the Texans HATE the nasty cowboys almost as much as the Redskins do. At least it was in the crazy-crowded grocery parking lot. This would never happen in our neighborhood! This area has TONS of different team logos on cars, b/c youth sports with national team names are HUGE here. I'm chalking it up to some nasty, bitter loser on his way back to dallas. And YES: I am sooooo replacing it!!!

* We were THRILLED to hear the Drew Peterson guilty verdict last Thursday!!! Our BFF Neil was the pastor Stacy Peterson confided in, telling him that Drew killed his 3rd wife, Kathleen...just before she herself disappeared. I was singing with Neil's wife at church when Drew was arrested in May 2009. Over three years later, finally some justice! It has been gut-wrenching for them & everyone - there were so many times we thought Neil wasn't going to be allowed to testify & Drew would get away with it. SUCH RELIEF!!!!!! It's crazy, now that he can speak freely w/o fearing his testimony will be compromised, to see and hear him being interviewed on TV! God is using him in AMAZING ways as an advocate for stopping domestic violence. Pray for his continued strength, (being in the national spotlight is weird!), and that the 1 in 4 women in church who are victims of domestic abuse get access to the kind of support they need, before like Kathleen & Stacy, they become one of the 8 women that die each day at the hands of their abusers.

* I scored each kid "vintage" (last year's) school spirit shirts & also matching hair bows (yay, TX!) for Sis, all for $2 each at elementary curriculum night!!! Waaay better than the $12 or $22 each on the order form that was sent home Wednesday! [It's a little sick, the kick I get out of deals...even when I'm undercutting the PTA! :-P] I felt a little bad that I had told Annelise she could get the new $22 "bling" (w/ sparkly crystals) school spirit shirt, but there was NO WAY I was passing up the $2 shirt instead; so I told her I'd bling this one for her myself! :-D

* Getting up for football on Saturday earlier than we get up for school days is a little messed up :-P but I had my Sbux chai & my full spirit on! JB & Will's Falcons did an AMAZING job, scoring 26 [should have been 34] points and only losing b/c their last TD run was called back on a suspect holding call. Watch out next Saturday, Cowboys... My & Annelise's Texans won - yay!

* Saturday afternoon, I went through Heart Rate Zone Training with my new gym. It was fascinating! I love that they're paying for me to get tons of different training w/ them (heart rate zones, group fitness stuff, CPR, first aid, etc.) - all great! - but I don't think they'll have me teaching regular classes there until at least January. I was disappointed by that at first; but I'll still get my free membership now, I get to sub Zumba, and I can take yoga & do weight training there now to workout, so I can stop practicing Zumba full-out on my own at home (even with good shoes, the tile floor is really starting to bother my feet) and I can just mark my Zumba routines at home to keep up with them. It's actually nice to be getting paid with that membership to just be a sub!

* Who dat?!?! IT'S THE Washington Redskins, BABY!!!!!!! HTTR!!!!!! [Skins wins = happy Sues]

* Finally, today (Sunday) is National Grandparents Day...and my only living grandparent I've ever had is not doing well. Grandmommy is 100 years old (she turned 100 in April!) & is in the hospital. My mom says: "She cannot swallow. A few moments she is sharp, a few very confused, mostly she sleeps." Pray for my fam, for special comfort for my mom, for us being the only non-local immediate fam, (we're 1,100 mi/18 hrs away, & it hurts that we can't just drop by the hospital,) and for God's will to be done. My sweet mom posted on FB: "She is at peace. You be at peace too. God is good." ♥ ♥ ♥ It's funny that Grandmommy is the only one of us I'm *not* hurting for. :-) I know she's right with the Lord and ready whenever He is. I feel really good that the last time we saw her with the kids was right before we moved here/end of June, and she was doing great - we went out to eat, and she was so proud of Will being a baseball player. :-D She told EVERYONE that he plays baseball. ♥ It was quality. :-)


Feel free to copy my "Off my Wall" title picture and link up here at the bottom. :-)