Outside...

I just dropped by Helga's blog (at My World) and she's doing a blog hop that she does once in a while on Thursdays. She gets it from Murdock's Mama. I thought I'd tag along.

Outside my window.. it is a bright, sunny day! Again! *love it!* (You've gotta know I can't have short one-or-two word answers, right????)

The time is.. 6:39 AM

Today I feel..pretty good. It's morning, so I'm still a little sleepy, but once I get my coffee down, I'll be okay...

I am thinking..about my exciting day. I have my usual "Thursday girls," and then I'm meeting Shelly - my partner-in-crime friend and I am meeting my first bloggy buddy ever! We are meeting Kami from My Beautiful Day. We've been bloggy friends for at least a year and a half and I can't wait to finally meet her!!!!

At the moment, I am thankful.. for my friends and family. Relationships - that's where it's at.

I am going.. on a really fun trip on Tuesday that I need to start packing for! Just Bridgette and I...after my shot (the Infusion Center is closed on the 5th), we're meeting up with my mom, two of my sisters and two of my college aged nieces and we're heading to the North Shore of Lake Superior. Fun! Fun! Fun! The boys are staying home and watching my dog and doing their own thing here at the house. We are going to have a BLAST!!!!

I am wearing.. a tee shirt and shorts....that I wore as pajamas last night.

I wish.. my storage room in my basement was already cleaned out and organized.

I am reading.. the Bible daily. I'm trying to read Wicked. (Those two sentences right after the other are really funny, aren't they?) I haven't been able to get into it. I have The Book Thief That I've yet to begin. I've just begun The Knitting Club. Nothing is really grabbing my attention. I just read a bunch of REALLY GOOD BOOKS, so everything else is really paling in comparison. I read The Help, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Harvesting The Heart...all really good books. My kids want me to read The Hunger Games and the sequel to that. Aaron has the third one on order; it will be shipped to us when it is released this summer some time.

I am working on.. Connecting with my small group leaders for my SAMmy's (Strength Among Moms Ministry) group here in Hudson. Their names are Heather, Kimberly and Jocelyn. All great moms. Jocelyn is out of town for the summer, so she couldn't meet with us when we met yesterday. Heather has two boys - one is a newborn cutie. Kimberly is a mom of 5 year old triplets (she reads Kami's blog, so she can't wait to hear about our meeting today...). It's exciting because these three moms have never led a SAMmy's small group before, so they are full of fresh ideas. *love it!* I've known them for years, though, and we work really well together. We're working on fundraising and planning our big kick-off in the fall. Exciting!!!

I am hoping.. To seriously get some writing done this month. I don't know how - the summer is so busy and it's flying by! I'm writing a series of 25 Bible studies and corresponding leader's guides. They take about 6 hours to crank out one, with all the research - before I send them to my editor. I have yet to begin one. I have them sort of mapped out, but I wanted to get at least half finished this summer. Sigh. I need to get going on them. I have that week with my sisters and mom in the North Shore and another week taken up with other obligations. If you don't hear from me much this month, you know why...

I am hearing.. nothing. It's just me and the kids and the dog, and it's now 7am - no creature was stirring, not even a mouse....oh, except for Mom. ;)
Around the house.. It's fairly clean - now that I cleaned up Aaron's pizza mess from last night! (Even though I told him to clean it up before he went to bed!!! Arghhh!)

I bet you didn't know.. that almost every Wednesday night Mike and I have a date night. Nothing fancy - we usually just go to a restaurant and run some errands together. The past three years, it's been remodeling-related due to the basement remodel...picking out carpeting swatches, ordering blinds, paint chips, furniture, etc. Last night we picked up some picture frames at Michael's, went to dinner at Chili's and then came home and replaced some frames that needed it and framed some things that needed frames and hung some pictures. I know, it may not sound like a hot date - but my honey works LONG HOURS, and that time is precious. We enjoy our time together! ;)

One of my favorite.. things to do is laugh. I love that show "Last Comic Standing" because it's usually pretty clean, non-offensive stuff. I love a good, clean joke. Something that's truly funny and gives me an unexpected laugh - a belly laugh. I love moments like that. That's one thing I value very highly...and something I try to bring to my family. Learning to laugh at mistakes and not be overly self-conscious is a beautiful gift to give to your children. Life is hard enough to have to go through, we may as well learn to laugh through the awkward and difficult parts!