Don't take for granted......

I go through life everyday with my normal routine of getting up early, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to work, work out, drive home, fix dinner and watch Ellen that was recorded and go to bed to start my next day over.. However the past few days I lost something that I now realized I took for granted. My HOT WATER!! When its 28 degrees outside and you have no hot/warm or anything but freezing water to wash your hands in- it sucks!!! Something happened to my hot water take on Tuesday at some point so when I got home from work, I had to wash my face in COLD water- which wakes you up when all you want to do is go to sleep. Thankfully we have a shower at work that no one uses so I had to get up early and go into work to get ready before any patients arrived. I called our Gas company (who works on the gas water heaters) and they said it would be a couple days before they could get to my house, and it would be between 8am-5pm!! How helpful is that? Today they came and it ended up being no big deal and were able to fix it pretty quick and didn't charge me anything- but the next time you wash your hands and you have warm water- appreciate it! :) I know I do now.

Life is to short
grudges area waste of perfect happiness
laugh when you can
apologize when you should
and let go of what you can't change.

Love deeply and forgive quickly
take chances...give everything
and have no regrets.

Life is to short to be unhappy
you have to take the good with the bad
smile when your sad
love what you got
and always remember what you had.

Always forgive but never forget
learn from your mistakes
but never regret
people change and things go wrong
but always remember
LIFE GOES ON!!!

Sunday Morning Church

Over the past month I have been trying new churches around the area in hopes of finding one that I can relate with and attend on Sundays. This morning I think I might have found the one.... Its called Faith Assembly and is in Pasco about 5 blocks from my house. Today's message really touched me and thought I would share it with you as you all begin to meet up with friends and family and are about to start your traveling...


"What do you WANT from Christmas" was the topic of today's sermon. Hoping that someone has asked you that this year means that you have someone who cares about you enough to want to know you WANT. It means you have friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, or maybe a stranger wanting to know what you wish for on Christmas. People tend to get a little greedy during Christmas (me included) that we ask for big things such as expensive perfumes, cloths from famous stores, computers, all the new electronics that come out, your 300th pair of shoes or purse. And when it comes to Christmas morning you open your gifts to find some thing you want, but also find socks, underwear, toothbrushes, stuff you need to live your daily life. We all wish that we could get the daily life stuff all the other times of year and only want the big stuff for Christmas. Well today's message was instead of asking what you WANT for Christmas, Try asking "What do you NEED for Christmas". I started thinking about this and decided to make a list of each, what I Want, and what I Need!

What I WANT:

*money *perfume *computer *cloths *digital camera * a roommate *BBQ *a TV *gift cards to anywhere *some movies and CD's * CD player *new window for my car *new pots and pans... The list could go on and on

What I NEED:
*my family *my friends *faith *God *holiday spirit

I have come to realize that there is a huge difference from what I want and need and this Christmas while I'm opening gift I will be receiving great items of all sorts while being surrounded by what I need- MY FAMILY and God!

I encourage everyone to make a list of wants and needs and see how different your two list comes out.

As everyone begins there traveling- please be safe and have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends! God Bless!

Tri-Cities at Christmas!

Tonight was the best night I have had in a long time! I love Christmas and everything it stands for, so I asked Liz to go look at Christmas lights with me. So she got her wine, (yes I was driving so I stuck with hot coco) and off we went. We started in Pasco where they were having a light project. It was 49 blocks that featured 28,000 bags with candles in each one lineing the streets and sidewalks of the homes!! It was so incredible as your driving down the road (everyone with there lights off of course) and all you see were bags and bags and bags up and down all 49 blocks! The homes were decorated so nice with lots of lights and yard fixtures, people having bon fires in their driveways, dressing up as Santa and yelling "Merry Christmas" to all the passing cars! There were limousines, people walking around the neighborhood and the horse and buggy that you could ride around in. It was so nice to see a development all come together to create this memory for my friend and I and so many other people in the Tri-cities. Each house had to pay $9.00 to get involved but it was so worth it. That in itself makes me want to move to that neighborhood! Thanks to everyone involved to make it a wonderfully powerful evening.

After that beautiful adventure- we headed into Kennewick (just across the river) and went to two homes. They have there lights programmed to a Christmas Music Station so you can sit in your car, listen to Christmas music and watch an amazing light show on the house and in there yard that corresponds to the song on the radio. One home we went to had 40,000 lights in his display. Another home we went to did the same thing, but had a Polar Express theme with thousands of lights and yard fixtures including trains,Santas, and the talking Rudolph reindeer named Marty. They started working on these projects a couple years ago and each week are continuing to add new songs to their light show. They are also using there light show for a opportunity to help raise money for Royal Family Kids Camp, and the other is a drop site for Toys for Tots. If anyone is interested, you can check out there web pages at, www.lights4christ.com or www.loghtanimators.com

If anyone living in the Tri-Cities has a chance, I would highly recommend checking out these homes! They are playing every night until 9:30 on weekdays, and 10:30 weekends.

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

What's Up With Her?

I got this in an e-mail today and I think its to good not to pass on! You will understand! Amy


What's Up With Her?

There comes a time in every woman's life when she has to take a close look at herself. Not at her circumstance, not at what she did, not how unfair life is, or not at whom made you do it. She has to just look at herself in all her glory and imperfection.

Have you ever admired a woman who has been through changes in her life? Or have you made up in your mind that she is just messed up. Before you make this mistake, take a closer look. A woman who has endured the most unusual life is someone of wisdom, someone who has been chosen by God to go through things that have made her stronger.

Think of all the great women in the bible: Mary Magdalene, Ruth and Naomi, the woman with an issue of blood flow, and Esther, to name a few. Mary was a prostitute, a very uneasy woman. But by the time Jesus was done with her, she was His closest follower. Esther was unfortunate in marrying an abusive man, but by the time God was done with her, she had married one of the wealthiest men in the land.

Women are so quick to beat the next one down instead of trying to hold her up. Before you wonder, "What's up with her?" ask yourself, "What's up with me?" That woman could be my mother, sister, aunt, in-law, stepmother, niece, grandmother, great-grandmother, neighbor, friend, or coworker, etc. That woman could be me. Women are the carriers of life, not the channels of death. Let's build and encourage each other, as did Ruth and Naomi.

Pass this to all the women in your life. Enco urage and Love, Forgive and Forget, and trust that the woman that receives this will be touched in some way.

May peace and love be upon you.

Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but FAITH looks up.



YOUR ATTITUDE WILL DETERMINE YOUR ALTITUDE



May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and nothing but happiness comes through your door!

This is my challenge to all you girls! I know I don't have very many female friends and its because "we" are all so dang mean to each other and always feel like we have to one up the other. So my challenge to you is to next time, ask "what's up with ME!!"

The best day!

For me and my friends birthday (which is in two weeks) we decided to just spend the day hanging out instead of buying each other crap we don't really need. So we started off the day at a nice little coffee stand getting our normal Mocha's and then of to Reflections where we enjoyed an hour of wonderful foot rubbin pedicures! They had the big comfy black chairs with the massage, and the hole ten yards. So after having pretty feet, we went back to my house where we enjoyed the last two pieces of chocolate cake I got from work for my birthday on Thursday and had some wine. Wine at 12:30 is not against the law (especially if your having cake!). A friend who is in massage school came over and we each got to enjoy a nice hour long full body massage. I think EVERYONE needs to treat themselves to these more often! I felt so good after that I didn't want to even move off the table.... But I managed to pull my self up and get dressed up a little (meaning I curled my hair and put on some makeup, with cute sandals to show off my cute toes) and went to a new restaurant in town call Bonefish Grill! WOW~ What a wonderful dinner that was! We each got a martini which for me was called a hypnotic martini that had a blue glow stick in it (and yes I brought it home with me) and my friend enjoyed a raspberry Martini, although she enjoyed mine much more :). We got some Salmon and halibut and shared half and half with each other to enjoy a few more things on the menu, along with potatoes with 5 different types of cheese, fresh corn cut right off the Cobb with bacon and butter, and fabulous bread with oil dipping sauce!! What a great dinner, thankfully I can enjoy it all over again tomorrow when I heat up my leftovers :).

From there we decided to go shopping at Victoria's Secret, which we did not buy anything although we were tempted. We had to walk off some of our dinner and what better place than the mall being its 30 degrees outside with a nasty wind! From there we decided we better keep drinking so we went into a local bar and had a drink to just relax (some more) and look back on our wonderful day we just spent together. What more can two friends really want :)

From there out time together was over as she had to return to being a mom and wife, but thankfully since I live by myself, I decided I was not done spoiling my self yet so I put on a nice radio station with romantic love songs, poured myself another glass of wine, and soaked in a nice hot bubble bath for a while! At this point, I think I can be done for at least another month..... But next month I might just have to do this again!

Anyway, thanks to Liz for spending our birthdays together today (which in case you were wondering we did sing "happy birthday to us" several times through out the day!) and just enjoying each others company. After 8 years of friendship, sometimes that's all that's needed to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Why are we such good friends?

"Why are we such good friends when all we do is fight?
Why are we such good friends when I'm not the one you like?
You said you always loved me, you said you always would,
but why are we such good friends when you never could?
You said you would meet me at 10, You said you would meet me at 5
but why did you ever say that when you never showed up on time?
You never call to talk to me, you never know I'm gone,
why do you say were such good friends when you know that's wrong?
Now I've realized why it turned out this way, I figured it out only this way:
You have so many other friends, and that is good for you,
I know why I am left out, I'm not as good as you.
You may say that I am jealous, and that may be true,
But I am not jealous because I'm not like you,
I'm jealous because I want a friend....The friend I am to you. "

-Amy


I wrote this poem in 5th grade and never had the guts to share it with anyone.... But found it today in an old box of mine and thought I would share it. To all my friends, and my 2 best friends- THANKS for being the friend I "try" to be to you!!!

R.I.P.

I received this quote the other day and felt like it needed to be passed on:

"I always feel sorry for people who think more about a rainy day ahead than sunshine today."
-Ray Foley

I think so many people are so busy trying to "plan" their future life that they forget about what's happening in the world TODAY!! I wish that people could stop worrying about if they are going to get married next year, if they are ever going to have kids, what color there wedding is going to be, if you will graduate from school, if you can fit into your shorts by next summer......Etc.. And just be happy to be alive today!! I am really trying to encourage people to be happy where you are at right know, cause you never know if you will ever live long enough to make all your "future plans" happen. This comes because, as you have read in my past blogs, some young people in the Tri-Cities have died unexpectedly. Well, another one has happened. A young guy who graduated the year behind me, leaving him at 22 died in a car accident on Saturday night. It is so sad to see this happen to these young people- and to think that he had his future planed out and now he is not alive to accomplish it. I hope that he was happy with his life and where he was at that day!- as I hope for everyone out there, that if you were to die tomorrow, you died a happy Man/Woman!!! God Bless!!! ( RIP Chico)

ELTON JOHN!

I just wanted to share with everyone that I am taking my mom and grandma up in the morning to Portland to see Elton John in concert. That is my mom's all time favorite singer so for her birthday Dad and I went in and bought her a ticket. So we are going up a day early to do some shopping (I know, kind of dangerous!!) I will try to get some pictures and maybe post about it when I get back.... In the mean time- I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC weekend!!

Great advise!

So the other day I was talking to one of our patients about my house and what I want to do with it and all the good stuff, and he gave me the best advise I think I have heard so I wanted to pass it on to you all........

he said " That's great you have a house and are doing all of these things, until you find Mr Right and will move in with him. Cause if he wants to move in with you, than he's Mr. Wrong- If you move in with him than it really is Mr. Right"

HAHA~

Just thought this was to good not to pass on!

I remembered!

I was a little disappointed yesterday on the 5th year of 9/11, and I did not see many flags out at all. Are people done caring? I have 2 flags in my yard, I wore red white and blue, I had a freedom bracelet on, and I thought there would be other people as well that would have done something to that extent. But as I was leaving my neighborhood, only a few houses had a flag up (who always have flags up), all the patients I saw yesterday, only 1 (ONE) person had on a patriotic shirt. It saddened me a little because I think people say they remember, but do they really? I have never been so proud to be an AMERICAN as I do now. As I kid I never new the "true meaning" of the Pledge of allegiance, the National Anthem, or even the flag. Over the past 5 years, I have truly began to understand what all of it is. It's not just a song, or words on a piece of paper, but a feeling you can't explain.... A lot like love. It's being so proud of something you can't even define the words. Up until 9/11 happened 5 years ago, I never understood any of that. I have watched MANY of my own friends go over to Iraq and I have never been so proud of each and every one of them. Watching my friends go over there, sending all sorts of cards and packages, and with keeping in touch with them, I have began to learn what its all about. It is a feeling I will always have! My best friend just left yesterday on September 11th, to go back to Iraq for the second time!! GOD BLESS!!
To name some of my friends that have been there or are still there would include:

Sean Phillips - left yesterday for the second time
Ryan Richardson
Brian Fitzpatrick
Taylor Reed
Donny Reddout- Still there
Stuart McKenzie (Graduated with him, was injured and sent home)

I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone of them and God Bless them and their families!! (for those of you I forgot, or maybe don't know, I Thank You)

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

Amy

The joys of owning a house!

WOW! Finely I get to sit down and relax........ Its Monday night at 8 and just looking around my own house and yard thinking about how damn hard it is to take care of it by myself!! It still has not fully set in that I have my OWN house and I can do whatever I want with it- but also come a yard!! So I called my mom this morning (after taking Tylenol and a lot of water to help cure a hangover) and asked her to come help pull some weeds in my back yard. I have a 3 foot strip all along my back fence that has just been taken over by weeds cause its just dirt, not grass. So I pulled up all the weeds and put down weed block to help control it a little more when I run out...... So off to Fred Meyer I go to get another roll so I can finish the project when on my way, I pass right by Beaver Bark........ SOOOOOO, I take a turn and go check out some prices for rock because I was thinking about how nice it would be to put rock in the back to match the rock around the rest of my house. I figure out how much I'm going to need and find the perfect rock- so I call my dad and tell him to come to beaver bark and pick up 1 1/2 yards of rock!!! So at 12:30 this afternoon its at 90 degrees outside and we are putting rock in my yard! It looks so nice!!! I'm so happy its done but now I need a back rub....And a beer!! So, Thanks to mom for helping me pull weeds :)

No, really, with out all my parents help, I don't know what I would do- cause there is no way I can take care of a house and yard by myself! So THANK YOU!!!

Life is passing by!

I have been a little depressed lately and it took me a while to figure out what was going on and I think I came to the solution.... I don't know what is going on everywhere else, but just here in the Tri-Cities I am getting so sad reading the paper or watching the news because of all the murders, suicides and random deaths that are going on.

RIP Andrew!! A girl I went to school with since middle school and grew up next to us went to wake up her Fiancee Last Wednesday morning the 23rd and found him dead! Just 26 years old and they do not know the cause!! God Bless you and your family!

This past weekend, there was a husband that shot and killed his wife, shot her co worker who is in serious condition, and then turned the gun on himself.

A couple weeks ago a young girl who just got accepted to the peace core got hit and killed by a drunk driver.

Plane crashes that are going on, terrorism around the world, babies being found in dumpster dead...... I could go on and on!

I have just come to realization, that a lot of these people are doing good things in there life and bad things are happening and it makes me stop and think..... I'm doing good things in my life, not great things, but good things and any of these things could happen to me at any second! I do believe that when its my time to go, I will but it still saddens me to realize that I could be that girl getting hit by a drunk driver. I have so many things in my life left that I want to do and I'm not ready to go.... But in fact its life, and its just passing by!

God Bless to my friends, family, everyone I think about daily that I don't always get to talk to!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Not a computer person

WOW! I don't know how to work this stupid site! I think I have writing 3 different things and I cant find them anymore~ Anyway life goes on! Sorry if you are seeing the same thing over and over, or non at all! It will take a while to figure it out.

Josh Gracin

I just wanted to share with everyone that I went to our town fair last night and saw Josh Gracin Front Row and Center stage!! He put on such an awesome concert.. He gave away free shirts, drum sticks, he gave away a guitar and some picks, and HUGS! He came off the stage and gave my friend hug, then made his way into the crowd and down my isle where I got kind of a half hug!! He is so cute!! They put on an awesome performance and had the crowd going crazy!! Its nice to see entertainers actually put a little effort into the shows!!! Man, what a good night!!

New at this!

I have never done a blogg before, but I started reading Elise's blogg and enjoy them so much that I wanted to leave her a comment, but it wont let me unless I have an account.... So here I am setting up an account and writing my first blogg just so I can leave Elise a message! :) ( See how much your loved!)