lizardblog ( the blog of liz creech

June 30, 2004
O.k. I have to tell the truth

Yesterday I said that I got pictures up without Alan's help. Well, when I posted that it was the truth. Then I went and looked at my blog and the pictures were so big that it was taking forever for them to come in. So, I had to go and ask my wonderful husband for help. I had forgotten, well, not even thought about resizing them. He helped me get them to a normal loadinable size.

And to let you all know, I got my projects for yesterday completed! The garden area is done and I fertilized all my plants. Now, for today I need to get more basil planted and check to see if I have to remove the baseboard in my living room so that I can put down wood floors with my father-in-law Sunday and Monday. I am pretty excited about getting them in. I have to buy the adhesive, you all pray for me to have good tips this week. I would also like to get some morning glory seeds planted as well. I want to cover up some of my fence and hopefully they will continue to come back from seed every year. I also have to take the lawn mower my In-laws gave to us in to be serviced. The machine looks new but it had been sitting for awhile and I think the carburator is clogged. We couldn't get it to start anyway. So, that is the plan for today. I reckon if I can stay busy then I won't eat so much. I really want to loose like 30 to 50 pounds. That wouldn't even take me to pre-baby weight, but I would be happy with that. Not that I'm not happy now, but when it is difficult to stay bent over for more then a minute without huffing and puffing, then I am too heavy. Just the facts. Ok, got energy to burn and things to accomplish. Once I am back working more steadily and the money is better I am going to buy the mortar to get this wall done. I will finish it before school starts back! That is one of my summer projects to complete - AND I WILL!! Alright, enough about all that.

posted by Liz at 9:10 AM - permalink - -

June 29, 2004
Wellll....

I don't know that I have much to say. Just thought I would write something, so lets see what happens.

I got a "big" project done yesterday. I dug a trench and put in a drainage pipe because the water from the downspout was washing away a part of the yard. I also put in a step that I will build up a little more, but that is all that materials I had. I still need to anchor the step with rebar and add another 6x6 on top and then add more dirt to level it a bit more. I was overall a very satisfactory thing. I am always afraid that I will start a project, not get done and then a year later it is still there waiting to be finished(like my stupid wall). I have a great idea. Why don't you all go to the TLC (discoverychannel.com) and put a good word in for me with Rally Round the House? I applied but I don't think I made much of an impression. I haven't heard back from them anyway. Seems like if I have a bunch of people go on the site and "apply" for me to be on the show that they might consider coming and helping me finish the yard. Or if you all know of any other thing like that, a TV show or just nice people who go around and give people money and help them finish projects for free, that would be ok too. I also applied to Clean Sweep. They were asking for applicants from Southern California, that sucks, and I am not from there. I sent like 40 pictures or something asking for help. That might even be fun, not the being on TV, but having professional help to get my bedroom to look like a bedroom and not a storage room.

My project for today is to put manure tea on all my outside plants and make a garden area for the pepper and cucumber plants I bought the other day. And if you see pictures up there at the top? I did that all by myself without Alan's help. O.k. enough here, I have things to do.

posted by Liz at 9:45 AM - permalink - -

June 22, 2004
Why would people.....

want to intentionally hurt someone? I mean that is the ultimate bad thing. To set out to be hurtful and mean. It is bad enough when you do it because you are stupid and selfish, and you realize that because you were "all about yourself", you make someone's heart hurt. To make someone doubt you and question if they know who you really are.

See, I was stupid and selfish and thoughtless and I did that. I am truly sorry. I hope God gives me the grace to redeem myself in their eyes and make things right. Because that is the right thing, not just to make myself feel better.

I really don't care what you all think about it, but 100% honesty, 100% of the time, even if it makes you miss out on things, or makes you look bad, is the only way to go. ALL THE TIME.

posted by Liz at 11:00 AM - permalink - -

June 15, 2004
Tell me about a dream, a funky dream you had

I, quite recently, had someone say that dreams are a "manifestation" of our secret hopes and desires. What is really going on. I have no problem believing that at all. But, I really have some funky dreams that make me wonder just what is going on in my subconscious.

Last nights dream was about Michael Jackson. I am not necessarily a fan of his but I have enjoyed his music and because he is in the limelight with his music, and now this scandal, you just hear more about him than normal people, DUH. Let me start off by saying "you know how dreams are" and get it over with because most dreams make no sense to me anyway. There is the beginning of the dream which seemed a bit scary from what I remember and then it went into the M.J. part. I went over to his house to counsel him on proper social behavior and how to relate better with his kids, specifically his older daughter (in the dream). I couldn't seem to get through to him so I was asked to meet his daughter at school and see what I could do for her. For the sake of taking up space with something that is hard to describe I am leaving a lot out. I ended up "walking her in" in front of the entire school. We, the security people and school people, shut all activity down and had all the kids outside standing in rows and waiting on busses until she walked into the school. I really have no clue as to what my dream self thought it was doing but I guess I thought it would work. But there was a sense of "this is what is going to work".

I usually have "action - adventure" dreams. I am the super hero, or saving people. When we were young I had dreams of saving my younger sister ALL the time. I think I have lost hope there and haven't had one of those dreams in a long time. I don't usually have scary dreams, but sometimes frightening. But mostly just running around and doing stuff and saving people. Interesting - cause I have always had them.

For some reason I also wanted to throw out a couple of things about me, because it hit me last night about one of them and then this morning, the other. I usually don't "get" things. I need very obvious, walk up to me and blatantly tell me what you want kind of clues. I don't get jokes right away, unless they are very obvious. I don't get what you are trying to tell me with eye rolls or the tone of your voice. I just don't - or at least it takes me awhile. I have always know this, I guess, but it hit me again last night. Ryan, Agnes and I are the only people in Macaroni Grill who "know" all this new training stuff, so we have to teach it, because Management doesn't seem to care. So, we had to teach some classes last night. We set up this thing so that we get together at my house on Mondays to hang out and eat. I just want to develop the relationship with those two and that is how it transpired. Any way, no one showed up for the class I was teaching and I had in my mind about going to the grocery store for stuff later to eat at my house. Now, Ryan and Agnes have been working hard lately and both were in overtime and on the verge of burn out, and what do I do? I have them teach the classes so that I can go to the grocery, and it doesn't even dawn on me what I have done until I am home getting ready to cook. Goofy.

The second thing, that came to me this morning, is that I like things that are "bad" for me. I love fatty foods, bread - lots of bread, and lots of sweets - lots. I have eaten cake for breakfast before. Or some form of dessert anyway. I hate being around lots of people. I prefer a hermitage over a crowd any day. I also like things that are very good for me. I love to eat veggies, I especially like to grow veggies that I can eat. I love to exercise - I just don't make the time to do it. I love hanging out and talking to people, for a little while and then I am drained. I do better with small groups. But the funny thing is - I would love to be on a stage talking to people. A big ass group of people listening to what I have to say - and it being good and me being able to help them with what I have to say. I think I have some good things to say, but don't we all.

Goodness only knows where some things come from. I think I have wore myself out. I have things to do and minds to confuse.

posted by Liz at 9:02 AM - permalink - -

June 08, 2004
A shot in the butt

Well, it wasn't chiggers and poison ivy, just poison ivy. I had it so bad that they had to give me a shot of steroids in the butt. I can only laugh at that. Here I am, 36 years old, have developed acne in my old age and can't stay out of the poison ivy. I was trying to be all noble and thoughtful for the neighbors by cutting down all those unsightly weeds and pulling the grapevine off that tree and what do I get? Itching all over my arms and legs.

Here are some interesting facts that I knew and discovered during this little episode. First, you can't give other people poison ivy just by touching them. Secondly, it doesn't spread because you scratch. Did you know that you can inhale the oils and then continue to develop spots for a long time after initial contact? Well, it was moving up my neck and face and I had it in Multiple spots so that is what prompted the shot. Cold baths are much better than hot ones. The heat inflames the spots. They also suggest ice or cold compresses on the most irritating spots. Interesting.

I took Katey, my oldest to camp on Sunday. She loves going. It is a Christian camp that she can hang out with a bunch of kids at. Meaghan is going in July and she was so jealous that some of the friends she met last year were at Katey's camp this year. Teenagers are so funny. I am embarrassed to say that I acted that way at that age too. Well, with age comes wisdom.

We had some of my work mates come over last night. We had to teach some classes to the people at work for this new training stuff. I didn't have anybody show up for my class so I observed Agnes and Ryan doing theirs. It is interesting some comments I heard second hand about the 3 of us. We seem to be only some of the very few who actually have a serious work ethic about this restaurant. A lot of responsibility falls on our shoulders. I heard that one girl called us the "dream team" and it wasn't meant to be nice. She didn't like the fact that we make people do stuff and because of our positions we have precedent over what stations we serve in. We close down the restaurant a lot together. That can be almost a whole hour after the restaurant doors are locked. And we do it well. So, people get jealous because of that. I don't get it. Enough about that.

We are going on an "all" community retreat this coming weekend. Unfortunately not all of us can go. It is hard with so many different schedules to coordinate. But most of us are going and it will be good.

I think I saved the best news for last. Yesterday I went and picked up the wood for our floors. I have 20 cases of engineered hard wood sitting in my living room. I am going to start ripping up carpet tomorrow. That will be interesting. After 5 years and only one official cleaning - ewwww! I hate carpet and I can hardly wait to get it up. I think I need to buy extra vacuum cleaning bags to suck up all the nastiness that we will find under there. Since we are leaving on Friday to go on that retreat, I don't know if I will be able to get the floor done before then, but we will see. I still have to get the adhesive. Money, money, money, money!

Ok, that is it. Peace to you all.

posted by Liz at 9:10 AM - permalink - -

June 04, 2004
Guess what I got?

Chiggers and poison ivy. Are you all jealous? I was out behind our fence on Tuesday using the weed eater and cleaning some grapevine off of a tree. Mind you none of this area, or the tree are actually ours. Yesterday morning as I got up to do that necessary thing, I started itching and I thought it was mosquito bites. As the day wore on I itched in more and more places. There was this one spot on my arm that I noticed that looked like I had smeared oil on it. I washed it off after I was done and it didn't go away and I realized I had scraped myself, or so I thought. The area started blistering and then itching and it looks really gross. So, I have some good medicine that the lady next door gave to us for Conor when he got poison Ivy on his hands. I guess I will survive.

Guess what else we are going to do? Go see Harry Potter. We have our tickets already, and to make sure we get good seats we are going to leave our house at 9. The movie starts at 10. We have been waiting for this to happen for a long time. I have read all 5 books out loud to the kids. We are anxiously waiting for the 6th book. Hopefully Ms. Rowling will have it ready for next summer. I am sure there are plenty of you out there who don't care for the series, or think it is bad, and I am sorry you feel that way. We love it and we have reread a lot of them over and over. To feed our habit - HA!

It has been raining here all week. I am shocked and amazed. I guess every so often the region just needs it. A natural occurance that is the earth taking care of itself. That is what I am figuring. I have appreciated the mild spring and hope for a nice summer like last year. I could live with 75 degree temperatures.

Well, it is time for us to go. You all have a good day!

posted by Liz at 8:56 AM - permalink - -

spiritual

> vine & branches
> vineyard central

blogs

> Garden Escapades
> Trish Hiduk
> Maryann
> Alan Creech
> The Vine
> Little Houses
> Amber Bishop
> Jody Nixon
> Laura Ogle
> Debi Warford
> Jason & Brooke Evans
> Eric Keck
> Beth Keck
> Pete Matthews
> Trudi Matthews
> Brian Phillips
> Bryan Sherwood
> Malie
> Kim Johnson

Homeschool

> vegsource homeschool
> discovery school channel
> saxon math and phonics

general interest

> john rosemond's affermative parenting
> lisa welchel
> thunderstruck
> Homestar Runner

gardening

> Kids Gardening

books i like

Here are some books I suggests if you are looking to homeschool or just for information. I gleaned a lot from them. Our church gets credit if you buy through these links.

In their Own Way
by Thomas Armstrong

Seven Times Smarter
by Laurel Schmidt

How to Talk So Kids Can Learn
by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Teen Proofing
by John Rosemond