Colorado weather makes me happy

The weather here is amazing.  It is going to continue to be in the 50s and 60s the rest of the week, and I absolutely love it!  There's something about being able to go outside and throw around the football, google at other people's dogs and wish we had one to walk, go for a jog, etc. when the weather is amazing.  I mean, don't get me wrong; the weather here is really mild all winter long.  But the fact that it is in the 60s in February is just great.

In conclusion, I want a dog so I can enjoy walking it during really nice weather.

And the winner is...

Tonight Jake and I played a game where we looked in our cupboards and found things we thought our spouse resembled.  Per the instructions of the game, the best comparison was to be posted on the losing spouse's blog.  Yep, I lost.  Here's Jake's line:

"You're like a toothpick because you always let me know when stuff is in my teeth."

I laughed out loud.  You should try to play the game- it's relatively fun and it costs nothing! :)

I also wanted to say happy birthday to my father-in-law!  I love you and I miss you, Mark!

Ok, so I lied...

This post is not about my weird experience at Burger King.  This blog is about God's amazing faithfulness.

On a personal note, I have been struggling to understand that God is present even when chaotic/hurtful experiences occur.  I decided to integrate this issue into my learning contract this semester, and one of my learning strategies is to write down the ways that I have seen God working in my life amidst the chaos.

Well I found one...a BIG one- in the financial realm.  This past fall I had to take a trip to the ER and my bill was horrendous.  The biggest portion of my bill (there were three other parts that were also expensive, but not anywhere close to this one) was $2199.  I applied for financial assistance and after about 3 months, I finally got the letter that told me my new financial responsibility.  

I read the letter...I am now responsible for $146.  THAT'S IT!  I got more than $2000 paid by charity.  Wow.  God chose to display himself in the chaos this time in a pretty big way, and I am SO thankful.

Weird experiences #1

Jake and I have been trying to pay more attention to sale items when we shop at WalMart.  I usually look at the coupons we get in the mail, but WalMart doesn't send any, so we've tried to be more intentional about stocking up on things that we normally buy when we see that they are on sale.

The last two times we have been to the store, the items that we grabbed because they were on sale did not ring up at the correct price.  The first time we didn't catch it until after we had paid for our items, so we had to stand in line at customer service.  They simply refunded our money without even price checking or anything.  

The second time we got up to the line and caught two different sale items that rung up incorrectly.  That time we had to stand in line and wait while someone from the front ran to the aisles to check prices.  When she came back, she affirmed one of our claims, but denied the second.  I was doubtful, but we thanked her for checking and paid for our groceries (without buying the second item).  As we were leaving, Jake asked me if I wanted to go check the price again, so I did.  I was right.  The weird part about it was that they (Wheat Thins) were found in two different aisles, and two different types of Wheat Thins were advertised for the sale price in each aisle.  That's annoying.

So, long story short: we found a manager, took her back to show her the price discrepancy, paid for the sale-item Wheat Thins, and then watched the manager not really do much about the problem.  In total, it took us 25 minutes to check out of WalMart at 11 at night.

It's bothersome that 3 times we have been rung up an incorrect price for an item that we specifically sought out because it was on sale.  I don't know who is in charge of coordinating sale items with registers at that store, but they are doing a fairly pitiful job.  So be sure that you are paying the right prices!

Next blog: Weird experience at Burger King.

25 Random Things

As has been happening on facebook, I have written my own 25 random things about myself.  Enjoy!

1. When I was little, my older brother and our neighbor dared me to touch a mousetrap and see if I could beat the snap.  They had me convinced that I could do it, so I did.  Then I ran into the house crying because my finger was stuck in the mousetrap.
2. I got a pair of really soft socks from my boss this Christmas that have little sticky things on the bottom so I don’t fall down.  It feels really fun to walk across the floor.
3. I have a fish that is named Tiki-Tiki-Tembo-No-Sar-Rembo-Charry-Barry-Roochie-Pip-Berry-Pembo… the 2^nd.
4. I like to make to-do lists.  Sometimes I write things on my to-do list that I have already done just so that I can cross it out and feel like I’ve accomplished something.
5. When I was in China, I learned how to squat like many Asian men do- mostly when they’re smoking.  I actually find it fairly comfortable.
6. My husband and I went to McDonald’s on our wedding night.
7. I met my husband because I had a Japanese beetle on my butt.
8. I have had the goal of running the Bix (a 7-mile race that occurs in the Quad Cities in Iowa) for at least 10 years now, but every time that I have tried to train, something has ended up preventing me from doing it (usually a sports injury).
9. It often brings me great joy when my husband calls me a pain, mostly because that means that I’m funnier than he wants me to be.
10. Jake and I went on a drive to Laramie, WY last year to have dinner.  It was actually a fairly amazing burger, and we saw some fun wildlife!
11. I really like playing football.  I’ve been practicing, and I’m getting fairly good at throwing a spiral!
12. I didn’t get my driver’s permit until I was 15 1/2 years old (I could have at 14).  I only got it because my parents forced me to since I still needed to take drivers’ ed and I would be able to get my actually license at 16.
13. I was nicknamed “Lizard” for about 4 years of my life. (Maiden name was Heard, and I went by Liz at the time… say it real fast….)
14. I made the Iowa All-State Choir as an alto my senior year of high school.  Right after all-state, I switched to soprano, which is where I have sat ever since.
15. I was in an auditioned choir this past fall that sang sacred music.  I was by far one of the youngest people in the choir, with the average age of around 60 years.
16. When I was a little kid, I dreamed of being… a cashier.  Not a doctor, not a superstar, but a cashier.  To this day I still haven’t had a cashier job.  When I was training to work at Target, I had to spend a day as a cashier (apparently everyone has to- no matter what department they are going to work in) and it was probably my favorite day at work.
17. My favorite TV show right now is The Biggest Loser.  Jake and I usually have our eat-really-bad-for-us food on those nights.  I think that maybe the show has the opposite effect on us than most other people.
18. When I was in elementary school, I got in a bicycle accident where my jacket got caught in the front wheel, I did a wheelie, and got knocked unconscious.  Eventually I got taken to the hospital and got some stitches right underneath my nose.  About 10 years later, I started dating a guy and later found out that his dad was the doctor that stitched up my nose.  Weird, eh?
19. One time when my family was traveling on vacation, someone in the car realized that they needed something that was in the trunk.  I was fairly young (and thus small), so they asked me to try to reach it through the little hole that opened from the backseat into the trunk.  As I tried to get it, I ended up getting stuck at about the waist.  And my family filmed it, while laughing and NOT helping me to get out.
20. When I was in kindergarten, I had a crush on a guy who wore red glasses and had spiky red hair.  A few years later I had a crush on a guy with red hair and also had a rattail (umm gross!).  Now I’m married to a guy with a red beard.  None of the guys in between had red hair at all.  So I guess for me, it started and ended with red hair.
21. When I was a kid I had about 30 Barbies.  One of my favorite things was to get them all out, make a mess, and then clean it all up again.  I LOVED the feeling I got after it was all clean.
22.  When I was in 6^th grade, I could type 70wpm.  I absolutely loved typing and was thrilled when we got to spend time in the computer lab playing games.  I remember one of my teachers telling me that I had a gift because I could type so fast, and that by the time I made it to college I could make some money typing other people’s papers.  I’d say that technology advanced fairly quickly; I’m pretty sure that if I offered to type anyone’s papers now, they’d look at me fairly weird.
23. Growing up, my brother and I used to love going down to the creek and try to catch fish.  We were a pretty good team; I put the worm on the hook, he caught the fish, and I took the fish off the hook.  I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to do that now-a-days.
24. As of right now, I plan to work at a child abuse prevention agency after I graduate (hopefully in December!).
25. I REALLY love my family.  And I miss them a lot.

"I love Jesus but I drink a little"