Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Columbus Cottage Number 5


 One of my favorite days. The day we hold a key ceremony and give the keys to a brand new house to an elderly person who had been living in substandard housing. I love my job and I love the company I have been fortunate enough to work with for almost 11 years. NeighborWorks Columbus truly believes in it's mission in providing access to fit and affordable housing.



 April 18 at 10, we held the most recent key ceremony. For recipient number 5. I love this picture. It shows the new house, the flag, our mascot HOMEE and Cynthia-- the chair of the Columbus Cottage committee.


 Mayor Teresa Tomlinson making a few announcements before the big event! I freely admit that I just adore our Mayor and take way too many pictures of her at these events.... but you won't really need me to tell you that.


Several of us hid in the kitchen so we could see Mr. Jones and the Mayor come through the door. Yes, it took us until house 5 to realize we would get better pictures from inside the house than taking pictures of the recipient going into the house. 


See, I told you I took lots of pictures of her. But everyone else was getting a tour and they were right there! Left to Right. Rev. Alfred Biggs of the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Lumpkin, Georgia; Mayor Teresa Tomlinson of Columbus, GA and City Councilor (and former Major League Baseball Player) Glen Davis

If you want more information or want to help with home Number 6, visit NeighborWorks Columbus's website or call 706 324 HOME (4663).

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tales From The Dogside


Hello.

 I am Harley (the SuperDog)

There are some who will tell you I am spoiled.....

....but don't you believe 'em.

It's just not true.

Mama just loves me. 

She and Grandma know I like toys and that they keep me occupied and out of trouble. 

So I have a few toys. 

Just a few.

I think there are 15 or so toys in that pile. I have a toy box now. Mommy is trying to train me to put my toys away -- but between you and me, she just needs to watch where she walks. 

I can't help it that she keeps tripping over my toys! 

This is Elphaba... or rather, what is left of her. She was supposed to be indestructible.

Ha! The Kong folks haven't met this Super Dog!

Mommy loves Elphaba-- the real one-- but she pretty much liked this one, too.

Until I ate her head. 

All that is left is her hat and her tentacles. 

Sorry, Elphie, you were a good toy but I still play with you.


Yep, your hat still gets thrown around and I play fetch better than any dog alive!



The weather was so nice Friday and Saturday that Mommy opened the front door and got some fresh air. 

I stood for hours looking outside and Mommy kept trying to get my picture. 

She thought she could be sneaky but she should know better! 

My SuperDog hearing hears the sound the flash makes so I move... and when she turns the flash off, I still know what she's doing... and I move.... 

She knows I have my eyes on her!




Monday, April 8, 2013

April No Spend- First Week Update

The first full week of the month has come and gone and I am feeling very good about things so far.

I thought I would share the progress of the week in an effort to be more accountable.

April 1
$ 88 Groceries


April 2
No spend

April 3
No Spend

April 4
$ 8.00 for 2 movie tickets and popcorn

April 5

$ 114 Tax Preparation (but at least they are filed!!)

April 6
$ 46.73 Groceries
$ 43.99 Dog Grooming

April 7
No spend

April 8
$ 20 Midtown Classic 5k registration


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

There are no words....

My baby brother and his baby girl recently went to a Father/Daughter dance at her school. She is in Kindergarten and is rocking the reading program. (Of course, she takes after her wonderful Auntie.)

I love seeing my brother, Lew, in his role of Daddy. He does it so well and I love watching Princess E bloom under the attention and adoration she receives from him.

I always hear stories about daughters and their fathers and it is not something I can relate to or even remotely understand. But when I see Lew and Princess E together, suddenly I know what it is and that Lew instinctively knows how says volumes about him as a person because he certainly didn't have a role model in our home of how a father should be-- more like what one shouldn't be.

But Lew is a natural. From the first moment I saw him with her (the day she was born! Yes, my sister and I took the day off to be with Lew and Debbie for this little Angel's birth.) I could tell that he was going to be a shinning example of Fatherhood.

I love this little girl. She is rocking her cupcake dress for Easter and she's doing it with jazz hands!. You can tell how happy she is and how strong and confident. I attribute those three things to her parents and am glad this little girl calls me Aunt.

Ed, Note: Can I just say how happy looking at jazz hands cupcake girl makes me ? Grin at my desk, looking goofy happy. Thanks Lew and Debbie for giving us this beautiful girl. 

Just had to get the whole family in! Glad they got Grandma (Debbie's Mom) to take a picture of all of them. Lew and Debbie have been married for almost 20 years... come August.

What an awesome example of love and family these three are and I am glad they are family to me.


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

April Goals




    

 

I spent a lot of time over the past weekend journaling and making some goals. I meant to have this post all ready to go yesterday, but I didn't quite finish.

 

Friday, I made a meal plan for the upcoming week and went grocery shopping.

 

April has become a No Spend Month and I am taking it very seriously this time. I have tried a couple of times before to do this and was not successful. This time I have made a serious commitment. Outside of the bills, groceries and gas to get to work and back I do not plan to spend any money. No eating out. No shopping.

 

There is one (ok 3) to this. One is for the registration fee for my 5k this month (20 bucks), my tax preparation (but I sort of see that as a bill because hey… it's taxes) and some sage for burning. I want to smudge the house and rid it of all the negative energy. I am going to try and wait until May for this, if for no other reason than to prove to myself I can.

 

In my journaling this weekend I realized the two crutches I have used to not face feelings and emotions have caused even bigger problems. So from now on, if I want something, it goes on a list. To be determined later if, in fact, I really do want/need it or if it is being used to alter/mask feelings. I use shopping to make myself feel good and that's not a good thing. It reeks of lack of control and emotional instability. While items purchased may be small and inconsequential… they in fact add up and create debt and I am starting now to rid myself of all debt.

 

It will be a long road but you can't finish if you don't start.

 

The flip side of feeling good is feeling bad. I used food to numb those feelings and fears that were too much for me and, yet again, created an even bigger problem.

 

So my crutches—while they helped two feelings—created two bigger problems and now I need to deal with those.

This weekend was really good for me. I sat down and thought about what I really wanted from my life and I kept coming back to three words:

  1. Simple
  2. Authentic
  3. Radiant

 

So I start April off with a bang! Meal plans and goals. Both of which I feel better about than I ever have before because in understanding why I was doing things the way I was, I realized how I can begin to heal and fix those things without making bigger problems.

 

I cannot continue to live my life in fear and anxiety. That does not make for a happy life and the last four days have shown me a glimpse of what I need my life to look like.

 

And I like it.