14 cents a week, and $6.95

I always knew there was a treasure sitting on the shelf of our family room but I never took the time to explore...well tonight in my procrastination I explored that treasure.

Sitting on our bookshelf is our Family Bible, it is a little tattered and very loved. It tells a story all of it's own, the story of a Bible passed down from generation to generation starting in 1881. Roses pressed flat, and newspaper articles from 1934 are tucked inside the cover, depicting a Charles Dickins story the "Life of our Lord"...on the back of the articles of course are some great ads...

...are you sick of your 6 lb iron? Um yes, if I hate ironing now imagine how much I'd hate it if my iron was 6 lbs!!! Oh and a fantastic weight loss ad, women were torturing themselves back them too! Its tag line reads, "Nobody loves a fat girl!" In a strange way it gives me comfort that women were just as hard on themselves in the early 1900s. It makes me wonder how far back all of the craziness goes! In 3 frames this poor sad women becomes rail thin and has landed a handsome tux wearing man! Afterall she's "condensed" herself!

Bailey needs a barrettte!

I'm taking care of my parents dogs for a little over a week and I've realized a few things...

1) I love my dogs and didn't realize how much I missed them.
2) Dogs are far superior to cats!
3) These little guys sleep 22 hours a day, eat and bark the other 2.

When I got here there were a few things that had to be fixed, one was that the dogs needed a bath desperately. So I washed them, and it turned out that the dirt or whatever was in Bailey's hair was controlling his coif! Now that he is clean and smells like Pantene ProV his hair is in his face. Perhaps a barrette would be a good solve!

More Like Falling in Love

Recently, I’ve had a few too many commitments and not enough time to get them all done. On Tuesday my friend Kristen asked me if I wanted to go to a house concert. My initial reaction was – eww sick, House music SUCKS! And then I realized that it was actually a concert in a house…so I said yes, after all I like concerts, and it was Jason Gray who was one of my new faves. I spent Wednesday going back and forth and driving home from work I was in my car in this awesome moment of worship, loving this song “More Like Falling in Love” and when it ended the voice in the radio said, and that was Jason Gray! It was one of those moments where I just felt like God was saying, you’ve got to go to the concert, you’ve got to go! So I got everything done and I went, and it could not have been a more amazing experience!

So this could go on forever, so I’ll try to keep in somewhat brief but…the night was a tremendous blessing! Scotty Hays opened and was quite entertaining, though I really can’t get over his guitar and exactly how it was also a drum…I resist the wording that Jason came on next because this didn’t feel like a big performance. He was more real than most people you know on a daily basis, sharing his life and struggles and insecurities. It was as if you knew him, and truly God used him to speak clearly in those moments…so here are a few things that GOD said through Jason last night.

1) Love ME, don’t be so legalistic, LOVE ME!
2) I am using your brokenness, LET ME; don’t run from the opportunity to minster through your pain.
3) I know what I’m doing; your problem may seem big now, but TRUST ME!

There were also a few other things he said that I am sorting through and just really pondering

1) Why is it that the hardest place to be yourself, and be transparent is in the Church?
2) If I tell my story right, I am telling all of our stories.
3) At the heart of our beings we are idolaters!

None of this is a direct quote of course, because my memory isn’t that good. But I hope that some of this causes you to think and listen to his music and see what God has to say to you!

And on other craziness, I got in the car to go home, turned on the radio and what was playing, “More Like Falling in Love”!

All while my foot was getting unscrewed...

So this morning I had the screw removed from my foot…and since I was completely awake and not sedated I have a few humorous conversations to report…

CONVERSATION #1
Dr. Blake: Hi, you probably don’t remember me from last time (he assists my doctor-I think)
Me: Actually I do, you don’t like your girlfriends lipstick, right?
Dr. Blake: Wow, yes and she’s my wife.
Me: Oops, didn’t remember that part.
Dr. Blake: Yea, interesting that you remember the lipstick. I guess I hoped people would remember me as nice or that I’m from Florida.
Me: You’re from Florida?
Dr. Blake: Yes, we talked about this last time.
Me: REALLY? I have no memory of this…
His phone rings, rather it neighs like a horse
Dr. Blake: In fact that’s her…we have horses.
Me: Glad to hear that, I was really hoping you didn’t have her ringer set to a NAG!

CONVERSATION #2
At this point they’ve started doing whatever it is they do with my foot and I’m not paying attention. I am actually listening to my ipod, because who wants to listen to doctors unscrew a screw from their bone…
Dr. Blake: wah wah wah
Me: Sorry, what was that? I wasn’t really listening…
Dr. Blake: Great, not even listening…if you stop listening completely you’ll have to marry me!

CONVERSATION #3
Dr. Schoene: Camille do you want your screw?
Me: What for?
Dr. Schoene: You could take it to cocktail parties!
Me: Serious?
Dr. Schoene: Well some people do…

CONVERSATION #4
Surgery is all over at this point and I’m about to be wheeled out of the operating room.
Me: So Dr. Schoene, how soon can I run?
Dr. Schoene: Camille, please wait at least a week!
Nurse: How long has it been, years?
Me: Nope, just a few days.
Nurse: Um, you were running with a screw in your foot?
Me: Yeppers!
Nurse: Hmm, OK!

3 out of 5 isn't bad...unless it's a grade!

In an effort to be super hydrated on Saturday night I was drinking tonic water and a lime. In my mind there were many benefits.

1) Hydration
2) No added calories from beer
3) Judgment in 100% unimpaired
4) Healthy alternative to so many other options on a Saturday night out…
5) And don’t forget the fruit!

Turns out I was wrong on a few of these…problem number one is that I somehow confused tonic water and soda water. I figure soda water was the sugary caloric one…soda=pop=sugar…turns out I was wrong – so there goes point number 2. As for point number 4, it turns out in order to give tonic water that kick that we all know and love, quinine is added. According to Wikipedia this had something to do with malaria. The correlation is completely lost on me and this makes me wonder if Wikipedia is making things up…but despite that skepticism, I ran across this picture that illustrates what tonic water does under UV light – it’s crazy. Tonic water glows! Are you serious, was I really ingesting glowing water thinking I was drinking bubbly yummy good for me water! There are days when I wish Wikipedia didn’t exist and I was still happy drinking my tonic water – Ignorance really is bliss sometimes!

Tiny little tree...I hope you don't die!

I had a flashback to childhood today. I was walking down the hall at work and as you may or may not know it's earth day. So there was this table set up and they wanted to make you as aware as possible of the 500 ways you could save the earth. I was in a hurry so they handed me 5 different conservation wheels and a tree! I tried to give the tree back explaining that I had nowhere to plant it, but they were not budging. It went something like this...

Me: Um, thanks but I rent
Tree Pushers: So, plant it in your yard
Me: I don't think my landlord would be pleased
Tree Pushers: Plant it inside
Me: Um it's a tree?
Tree Pushers: It won't get very big...put it in the window.

Seriously, it's an evergreen, it won't get very big!!! Well, I lost the battle and took the tree. So now there is a tree sitting on my desk and my next goal is to find it a pot.

5 hour goal: plant the tree
5 month goal: don't let it die like all the other earth day trees that died a slow and painful death in my parent's backyard!
5 year goal: find the cute little tree a permanent home, it should be Christmas tree size by then! Ooh, how about my parent's back yard - that would truly complete the cycle!

10-10-10

What could possibly be more important on the fun date of 10/10/10 than to run the Chicago Marathon?!? Now I know you are all probably asking how in the world this happened since at the ripe age of 18 I retired from running after my double knee surgery...If I know my parents they are cringing right now!

Well, long story short...I caught the bug - the running bug! The obsession is back and I am right back where I left off, my cross country career has morphed into something very different!

I was planning to run a half marathon and during a moment of joy and distraction ran 15 miles in San Fran. This caused me to wonder, was I training for the wrong race? It sure sounds like it! A whole slew of thoughts went through my head, am I nuts - probably...can I do this - most likey, is it going to hurt - definitely! And I stopped with this one, you will always fail when you never try! So here I am for better or worse...and you can read a better version of why I am running at my MARATHON site - never thought I'd say that did you!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/il/chicago10/candress