The Banana Peppers Story

I got some banana peppers at work today (There was training in the training room at the truck yard where my office is and they let us claim any leftover food). I was SO excited! I LOVE banana peppers! So I loaded my plate and headed back to my office to enjoy a nice little snack...
The first bite was amazing! The perfect flavor. Perfect spiciness. Perfect in every way really. Gosh do I love banana peppers! Then I took a second bite...into the second banana pepper slice...HOLY HOTNESS! That was the SPICIEST banana pepper EVER! I thought I was going to die! So I drank some water and picked up another one...no really, that’s exactly what I did! Am I crazy? That one was JUST AS HOT! Again, I thought I was going to die...more water and then I did it again...I picked up just one more, hoping for that perfect flavor, perfect spiciness combination...I was duped again!

More water and then I took a break from what should have been the most amazing afternoon snack ever...That’s when I realized why they were so HOT...They were in the same bowl with the jalapeno peppers! Oh man am I dumb! And then I just lost my mind...
I couldn’t stand to see those beautiful banana peppers just sitting on my desk, so despite knowing what I now knew I tried another one with what small strand of hope I had left for that perfect bite...SUCCESS! It was amazing! And then I did it again, I picked up another one and took a bite...HOLY HOTNESS! That one must have been underneath a jalapeno, because it was HOT! Good thing there was only one left because I thought I was really going to die. My water bottle now nearly empty I bravely ate the last one, and IT. WAS. PERFECT! All this for banana peppers...wow. And now my water is gone. :)

Why? and Pray

Mom is in Vegas shooting an archery tournament with Lane and Shane. (Well, Shane isn’t shooting, just partying, but he is there). Then she is going to California to visit Isaiah until Wednesday before coming home to start all the prep-tests for her bone marrow transplant…
Why is it so hard to think about that? Why is it so hard to imagine Mom being gone..not here…? Why is it so hard to talk about it? Why is it easier to deny any of it is happening? Why is it so hard to be encouraging or to cry with her?

Brittni and Dustin are considering moving to Oklahoma to go to Bible College…
Why is it so hard to be excited for them? Why is it so hard to encourage them to do what will be best for them in the long run?
Ever since they started hanging out with Evan again we have gotten the boot-never do they invite us to do anything with them anymore. Never do they come talk to us about anything anymore…Why does it hurt to not be included in their plans? Why does losing two friends feel like losing the world?

Fear of losing someone. Fear of change. But FEAR nonetheless is the reason it is so hard to LIVE a joyful life. We humans like things the way they are. We like knowing what is going to happen. We like control. But these desires steal our joy if we don’t let go of them. God is the only one who KNOWS what is going to happen. God is the one in control. Why is it so hard get that through out heads? Why is it so hard to just get over ourselves and let God worry about everything?

Please pray for Mom. She needs courage and strength to get through this. She will lose her hair during this process and she needs to know she is beautiful without it. She will also be even more tired and less hungry. Pray for strength. She will have to stay in the hospital. Pray that there will be MORE than enough people to visit her all the time so she doesn’t get lonely. Pray that she will be able to ask people to leave when she needs to rest. Pray for the rest of us as well…that we will know what to say and do to encourage and support her through this.

Please pray for Brittni. For wisdom and guidance to know if she is supposed to transfer to the Bible College in Oklahoma or not. For strength to be the woman God has created her to be no matter what the situation.

Please pray for Dustin. We are so confused with him right now. Pray that God will make clear to him what he is supposed to do (Go to college here and keep his full-time job, move to Oklahoma to go to college, or something else completely).

Please pray for Hubbin and I. Pray that Hubbin and I will know what to say and do to support Mom. Pray that we will be able to support one another during this time since his parents will be out of the country for three months and my Mom will be going through the transplant. Pray that we will know what to say in honesty and love to Brittni and Dustin regarding their decisions to go to Oklahoma or not. Pray that we won’t be bitter or angry with Dustin for not speaking to us anymore because it is so hard to let go of such a good friend. Pray for courage for us to be able to share our fears so they can be dispelled and replaced with trust.
Thank you for your prayers and support. (Even though I know no one reads this right now).

Much

Much has happened since last time:

The chili cook-of went alright...didn't win anything and it was a LOT of work. But it was fun too.

We convinced Brittni to help us build valves for Walter Corp. Got her all trained up on Sunday afternoon and then spent the evening with her family at her Uncle and Aunt's house. (they had a superbowl party there) Then she came back up on Monday to relearn and help us tear apart and clean ten valves...I'm not sure how many we actually did, but by the time we were done we were ALL starving and ready to be done. We get to pressure test all of them on Sunday-Happy Valentines Day, eh?

My birthday was Tuesday...I worked and went to the Nuggets game with Hubbin. We got tickets to the suite/box that Ensign owns from my Dad. The game was somewhat uneventful and kind of boring. I never really got into it. The food at the game was awful! We tried to get dinner from this Asian place right outside of the suite but the meat was SO salty it didn't taste good and their rice was mush...I ate all of the vegetables but was still starving so Hubbin and I ended up walking around the whole Pepsi Center to find pretzels. We found them and they were pretty good! I got tons of "Happy Birthday" messages on Facebook and texts on my phone. This is one of my favorites:

How can you NOT love that toothless, contagious smile? And that outfit is the one Joel and I had made for him when we were on the way to be there when he was born!

Had Birthday Dinner with my family last night at PF Changs. I think we all concluded that my "Heart attack on a Plate" dinner was the best one ordered! Then Mom and Josh came back and shared birthday cake with Hubbin and I. That is a great picture too...

I REALLY wanted that cake...I ordered it from the lady who made our wedding cake and it was AMAZING!

Mom and Dad ordered a sweet tub for Mom for in the bathroom...has tons of jets and air bubbles. And I plan on using it at least once...hehe! Now, how long before it gets here and I can use it? (two weeks, lol)

I'm concerned that Hubbin and I are losing/have lost a dear friend of ours named Dustin...we have only seen him twice in the last two weeks and usually we see him (even if its only five minutes) five or six times a week! I'm not sure what, if anything, we can do about it...we've invited him to dinner twice and never got a response and I called him last night to ask him a question and he didn't answer...breaks my heart losing friends, especially good ones like Dustin.

Glen and Linda are leaving in three weeks...I helped her with her computer for over an hour last night and I am a bit concerned that they will have no one to help them figure it out when they are in Haiti. (If you are interested their Blog site is: www.glenandlinda.blogspot.com ) She has also not figured out what she is going to do for her electronic Book devise yet...Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle? Any voters? We will miss them a ton and are trying to spend some extra time with them before they leave...having dinner with them on Monday night.

Bad News...

So Hubbin spoke to Gail last night and Gail told him we won't be able to get more than $160,000 out of our house right now because there are just too many forclosures in the area.
That is some BAD news. But it is also kind of a relief...now we don't HAVE to get the house done by March 1st. We can take our time and have it done by the end of March instead. This means less stress, more time relaxing and less painting all in the same day! :) This makes for a happy me, but I have yet to resign myself to living in our house for another year...I'm hoping beyond all hope that we can get the house on 47 for $150,000ish when it goes up for auction in March. Maybe if that house is gone I will be ok with living in town for another year...One more 4th of July, one more Labor day, one more birthday, one more Thanksgiving, one more Christmas...maybe. God knows the plans He has for us and I'm quite sure He will work them out no matter what they are.

Hubbin made me dinner last night...it was actually "Brunner" or breakfast for dinner. He made it look all pretty before we ate it and it was REALLY good!

We are also making chili for the chili-cookoff tomorrow...that should be fun. At least it will put our fantastic kitchen to good use!

Who is the most important person?

We decided to plan what we are going to do on the house by the week rather than the day because everything always takes longer than we think it will.
I've also been contemplating writing our story on here in a series of posts. I think it would be a good trip down memory lane and a great place to keep track of everything.

Now, on to business! So "Mornings with Brant" posted the following on Facebook:
"Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc) thinks you are."

So I was thinking, "What do I actually think of Hubby?" Since I am supposed to be the most important person in his life (Excluding God its true!). If he will become what I think of him how can I make sure he becomes a better person? How can I make sure he grows into the man God has for him to be? (I know, I know, its not MY job, its God's, but if this is true then I have finally found my role! albeit a small one...). So as I was thinking this I felt immediate shame for some of my thoughts, afraid to even think about what I thought of Hubby.
And then I worked up some courage and...I think he is generally a good guy. He is the best husband in the world. He loves fiercely and will defend those he loves to the death-even at the loss of other relationships. He is the best hugger in the whole world if you can get him to stop and give you a hug. He is easily frustrated. He tries hard-very hard-at everything he does and he gets angry when it doesn't turn out the way he had planned. But he has incredible patience too. He doesn't take constructive criticism very well, but he does try to take it well and sometimes he succeeds. He does not deal with things well when they are unfair-even if they are unfair for someone else and not for him. He cares, he really, truly, deeply, cares about others. He has strong opinions and he is not afraid to share them if you give him half a chance.

Now having written this I am ashamed again...I often times don't treat him this way. I don't mean to not treat him this way, it just happens. I don't mean to not share things with him or hurt him, it just happens. And for that I am truly sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how much I have hurt him. IT is now when I desperately want him to know that I LOVE him more than anything else in this world.

Now, who is the most important person in your life and what do they think of you?

Our House

Oh what a weekend! At times I am so discouraged at our progress on the house. I always seem to underestimate the time it will take to finish ANY project. Like the doors on the cabinet in the stairwell. I thought it would take fifteen minutes, thirty at most, and it took three days! Three DAYS! My only hope is that the rest of it doesn't take that long...It took over two hours to put the door in between the garage and the house in yesterday (looks fantastic by the way! My Hubby did a wonderful job cutting it and getting it to fit "just so"). It took three coats to get the window in the kitchen and the doorways in the kitchen painted...and then when I took the tape off in the pantry off came some of the tan paint, so now we have to go back and fix that! I'm just so discouraged right now...

I could look at it from the bright side...The kitchen is done with the exception of the baseboard! The cabinet in the stairwell is done! The door is IN! ...But then I think of all we have left to do and I am just discouraged again...Paint the stairwell and basement, paint the baseboard in the basement, Paint the windows in our bedroom, put new linoleum and a vanity in the downstairs bathroom, put new carpet on the stairs, finish tiling the kitchen and the landing, paint the downstairs bathroom, put new doorknobs/deadbolts on the doors upstairs, clean up the outside, paint the trim on the exterior of the house, REMODEL the ENTIRE upstairs bathroom...lions and tigers and bears, oh my! I think we need to sit down and pick nights/days when we are going to do certain projects...that will help me focus on one thing at a time instead of ALL of it!