Hey, I may be putting the Xanga video thing to use soon. I have a fantastic cell phone right now that's capable of recording 11 minutes of video. I also have the usb cable and software to transfer videos from the phone to my computer ... so look for video blogs coming soon (maybe). I think it's a really cool feature of Xanga, anyway. I hope they allow it to stay free for premium members. I'd like to know I get some bonuses from my premium membership (aside from tons more photo storage than I ever used to begin with).

We had a good Sunday today. Between the two of us we got a couple more boxes unpacked. A man from the Gideons gave a presentation at church today. He told us how he had smuggled Bibles into China. It was an awesome presentation. It made my spine tingle to hear of the danger he went through the spread the Gospel. I shouldn't be afraid to spread it here at home where I'm free to do so.

After church, John and I had lunch together at home, then I went with some of the church members and former members to a nursing home for "church" there. Different churches voluteer each Sunday to hold church at the nursing home. Apparently our church gets the best turnout because we bring treats with us. It's neat that I know a lot of their names, and many of them know my name now, too. Today I prayed with a man who is deeply depressed and said he stopped believing in God when his mother died back in 2000. She was 84, but he's still bitter about it because she died of cancer. It was very touching to see him crying and vulnerable. Please pray for him, that he'll find his way back to Christ.

Also, pray for my youngest daughter. She will be flying with the baby tomorrow to Texas for a visit with her mother (I'm the stepmom) for a few weeks. Also pray for her husband who is staying at home to work while she's gone. I pray this time apart will do them some good. I don't think they've been apart for any length of time since they moved to Arizona.

It dawned on me tonight when I was watching the news about the thwarted terrorist attack in England that today is 8/10 - and the last BIG terrorist attack on the U.S. was 9/11.

Then hubby told me that this wasn't supposed to happen today, but they had caught these people before it got to the airport, which then brings me to wonder was 9/11/2006 when they planned on pulling this one off?

For those of you who have been worried about me, I did manage to go to bed shortly after 9 p.m. last night and got mostly a full night's rest. Now I need to go eat supper with hubby so I can be ready to go walking when my friend comes by later.

Will the grindstone ever stop? I am beginning to believe it won't. After three 15-hour days last week and numerous other long days, I am officially tired. I have got to get another person hired but finding the time to do the interviews is going to be the trick. It has to be done. I can't handle this pace a whole lot longer.

I did have a decent evening last night, however. I started a crock pot of roast, onions and potatoes before we left for work, so aside from heating a can of carrots (I didn't even think of throwing some baby carrots into the pot in the morning), supper was ready when we got home. After supper, I went walking with a couple of the ladies from church, and I went to bed before 10 p.m. So I do get to come up for a little air now and then.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

One week has blurred into another this month. I cannot believe tomorrow is the last day of July. The county fair buzzed past this week and I never had a chance to go out to it - but then it was so hot this week I'd have probably been miserable out there anyway.

The state fair starts next week. I'd like to make time to go to it again, but don't think we'll be able to.

Last week we were super busy between additional print jobs coming in (YEAY!), about 20 computers coming in within a 2-day span, and getting things ready for the new store. John worked until 10 p.m. Thursday trying to get computer jobs caught up. We usually get repairs out the door within 48 hours, but this week people were calling and grumbling. We still got them out within the week, though. I've heard stories where some places have had people's computers for 5-8 weeks before.

I worked until 8 p.m. Friday night. John got home around 9:30. Then I went in to work Saturday at 6:30 a.m. and took off at 6:30 p.m. John came home around 8 p.m. Saturday night. They had spent most of the day trying to get the phone lines and Internet lines installed at the new store. They still aren't up and running and the store is supposed to open Tuesday.

It's a crazy, crazy time in our lives, but it's a wonderful experience all the same. Now if I could just manage to get a couple more awesome employees to help things run smoothly.

I do apologize that I seriously have not had the time to get around to read your blogs. Hopefully things will slow down enough this week that I can take some time to poke around. The only blog I've read this past week's is my sister's, and my mom's, telling me that Ann is pregnant again. I think it's awesome that she has such a large family. Our family was large and the house was always full of love. We always had somebody to play with, too.

I've been busier than a one-legged man at a butt-kickin' contest and more stressed than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers. I've not had the time to read my SIR in ages. I worked 12-14 hour days most days last week. We did take Saturday morning off and enjoyed being lazy that morning, but I went in for 7 hours Saturday afternoon. I spent Sunday after church putting my kitchen in order and oinking out on balogna sandwiches on white bread, one of my comfort foods when I get depressed. I was surprised to see I lost weight over the weekend, considering the way I ate on Sunday.

Tonight I did manage to find a couple of hours to have dinner with my best friend, L. It's probably been a month since we got to see each other. As a matter of fact, it's been nearly exactly a month since I took her to lunch for her birthday in June.

I held down the fort at the Oskaloosa store on Friday while Hubby, our Angel employee and hubby's dad spent most of the day at the Knoxville store receiving the display cases and shelving from the semi-truck and setting them up in the store. A new employee starts tomorrow. He seems extremely intelligent. I just hope we can reign in his tendency to want to chatter so much.

This is much longer than I anticipated it would be. It's like when I started typing it just started all flowing out. The new store opens up next Tuesday. Still lots to get done this week between training a new employee, getting the quarterly taxes finished up and getting all we need done for the Knoxville store.

I leave you with this, which I received from one of the gals in my cancer support group. The funny thing is, many of these things applied to growing up down south, too. However, I never did know what "knee high by the Fourth of July meant until I moved to Iowa..."

YOU GREW UP IN RURAL  IOWA  IF...........

You know how to polka , but never tried it sober....
You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.
You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping
between the reception and wedding dance.
You know the difference between "Green" and "Red" farm machinery, and
would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better!
You buy Christmas presents at Farm & Fleet
You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding.
You hear someone use the word "oof-dah" and you don't break into
uncontrollable laughter.
You or someone you know was a "Dairy Princess" at the county fair.
You know that "combine" is a noun.
You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel
post in the middle of winter.
You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.
You know that "creek" rhymes with "pick".
Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into
consideration before wedding dates are set.
A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend
shining for deer.
Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.
There was at least one kid in your class who had to help milk cows in
the morning... phew!
You have driven your car on the lake.
You can make sense of "upnort" and "batree".
Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the
chicken dance.
Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.
The local gas station sells live bait.
At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat
processing plant.
You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.
Pop is the only name for soda.

The message went ok, though it was way too short. I was also so nervous that I forgot the tunes to the hymns. We picked easy ones because our pianist and her husband quit the church this past week.

Today hubby attempted to install a programmable thermostat. This will be the third house we've installed them in. Because the law says when you attach something to the house it has to stay, we've left them. The $50 cost of the thermostat makes up for itself in one month of heavy heating or cooling season. We are definitely in the middle of heavy cooling season.

Unfortunately, there appears to be something wrong with the switch or the wires or something. Hubby is cussing the house already, and how shabbily the wiring is done. The wires to the thermostat were too short to clip off the crimped up stuff and he's thinking that maybe the wires aren't long enough to make good contact. He's got the air working now, but we are afraid that it might stop again when the program changes. We are due for a heat wave this next week. It's the week of the county fair and it's always blistering hot that week. It also pours down rain at least one day during the fair making the grounds slicker that snot. That fine dirt turns into a creamy mud the consistency of ceramic slip. Maybe that's why they call it slip.

I need to head to bed. I've got to get up early to prepare for job interviews tomorrow. We've got two back to back in the morning. I've got a couple other candidates I need to get scheduled in as well. It's a busy, busy time.

On the up side, I got more cupboards lined and a couple more boxes unpacked. I've been good about doing the dishes every night since we've moved in here and plan on keeping it that way. I'm also loving having my own washer and dryer and not having to deal with laundry room hogs or working around someone else's schedule. I can do a load a day if I so desire (I don't desire, but I can).

I am giving the message at church tomorrow. Please pray for me. I do not like speaking publicly but have felt led to give a message on this topic for a little while now. It was a bit last minute for preparation, but God has been convicting me to share for sometime now. It is funny how he will make the opportunity arise if you don't when he asks you to do something.

Anyway, they didn't have a pulpit supply pastor lined up for this Sunday. Everyone they asked was busy this week, so I am doing it. I'm quite nervous but my mom was gracious enough to let me bounce it off her tonight. I am feeling more confident about giving it since doing it with her. I just hope I don't sound like the nervous little kid in school reading off a report tomorrow.

I am normally not comfortable with women in the pulpit, but God has been working on me with that the past couple of years, too. I look at this as an extended Sunday school lesson during church time. It actually is because that's what it started from was a supplemental lesson in the Sunday school quarterly.

We are starting to see progress on the house. There are no boxes in the living room now and it is mostly set up, except for the fact that my husband left me no room on the book shelves for knick knacks. The nerve of him, filling the book shelves with books - LOL. Seriously, I wish he had left me some room for photos and figurines in a few places.