Here’s my thought process behind my new hobby.

(While doing my hair on Saturday morning, getting ready to go speak to a community group for work…)

Hmmm… my good friend Tiffany is having a baby next year. I need to think of the perfect gift for her baby shower… in November.

Tiffany always thinks of the best gifts.

I should make her something.

It’ll take too long to knit a baby blanket.

I wish I could make her a quilt. Except I don’t know how to quilt. Or sew.

I should learn how to quilt!

I’ll go buy a sewing machine!

And a few hours later, there I was in Wal-Mart, buying a Singer sewing machine. I spent my next four hours trying to get the stupid thing to work. After a few sighs of exasperation, I finally called my friend Melanie, a master quilter, who agreed to come teach me. And a few hours later, I had a quilt pieced together!

Last night, as I lay in bed, I thought of all of the awesome quilts I could make this year. I could make them for birthday gifts, wedding gifts, baby gifts… maybe I could quit my job and be a full-time quilter!

The only problem… today, when I went to work on it again (without Melanie), I couldn’t get that silly sewing machine to work. Again. I spent two hours, and finally just quit.

I hate quilting.

In honor of my 150th blog post, here’s a photo of my family, which is absolutely precious.

I had been so good about posting lately… 24 posts in July. That may be a new record for me. You can tell I had a lot of time on my hands during my break from grad school…

I had every intention of writing this week, but I started reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, and I did absolutely NOTHING else the whole week. I couldn’t put that stupid thing down! I love the feeling of having a book that is so good, I literally thirst for it all day, anxiously anticipating the moment when I can pick it up after a long, hard day, curl up on my couch and escape my world for a few hours. With this one, I barely even slept… I had to force myself to put it down each night around 12:30. I blame all of my crankiness last week on Ms. Rivers!

Oh, and I feel like I should mention that I really DID do other things this week besides read, otherwise you may think I’m a bigger nerd than I really am (okay, maybe I am a nerd anyway). I played tennis with friends, went out for coffee with some of my Sunday School girls, played my last (thank you Lord!) softball game, officially booked my 2009 cruise, went to dinner with my long-lost roommate, and caught a Rangers-Yankees game at the Ballpark. It was quite a week!

And, I found the most fabulous strapless, black lace cocktail dress for a black tie event later this month. It’s one of those dresses that makes me feel like a movie star! It was way out of my budget, but my cute sister Lindsay works at the mall and is getting me a mean discount, so it’s back in my budget! I hope all my friends get married this year so I have an excuse to wear this bad boy as much as possible!

I had been so good about posting lately… 24 posts in July. That may be a new record for me. You can tell I had a lot of time on my hands…

I had every intention of writing this week, but I started reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, and I did absolutely NOTHING else the whole week. I couldn’t put that stupid thing down!

First things first… I have the coolest family. EVER.

Okay, on to other things.

As I sit here eating a frozen banana (Have you ever had one? I swear, it’s better than ice cream), all I want to do is go finish my new book. Redeeming Love. Yes, I know, I’m the last Christian girl on earth who hasn’t read it (or anything by Francine Rivers), but I’m about to check this one off my list. I practically devoured this book. I have managed to fit in some fun activities this week (like hanging out with friends, playing tennis, going to a Rangers-Yankees game) but really, all I have wanted to do all week long is curl up on my couch and finish this darn thing. Seriously, it’s that good.

My love-hate relationship with my Texas Rangers dates back to the late 1980s when I went to my first game.

Back then, as a first-grader, my parents would take us to games a few nights a week. It’s what our family did to bond. We’d take a huge thermos of Dr. Pepper, some snacks, and a couple of coloring books, and set out to the stadium to cheer on our favorite team. And our favorite player… Nolan Ryan.

Twenty years (and approximately 3,160 games) have passed, and my Rangers have never won the World Series. Or even the pennant. We had a few near-misses back in the late 90s, which was just enough of a tease to whet our appetites. But since then, it’s been a downward spiral of defeat and heartache. Of no pitching and poor coaching and bad trades.

Last year I gave up. I broke up with my Rangers. I dumped ’em like a hot potato, quit watching the games on TV, and never spent any of my hard-earned money on tickets. Granted, I get to go (for free) a lot for work, but last year it wasn’t very high on my list.

But now… my boys are back! I have forgiven them for all their past sins because they have once again become exciting to watch. My pal, Josh Hamilton, is the greatest Ranger since Pudge. I love to watch Kinsler with his tall socks and his baggy pants steal base after base. I love Saltalamacchia, not because he’s a great catcher, but because he has the longest name in the history of baseball, and that’s just cool. CJ Wilson has lot’s of attitude, Chris Young shows a ton of potential, and I was a bat-girl for Murphy back at Baylor, so of course I love him as well. My boys play with passion, with gusto, and with tons of heart.

So boys, I forgive you. If you keep scoring 10+ runs a game, and if you keep coming from behind in the bottom of the 9th for a win, I will continue to cheer you on. I don’t care that you’re not in first place. Watching you makes me feel like a kid again… like I’m back in first grade, hanging out at the ballpark. Only this time, I won’t bring my coloring book.

I went out to the Ballpark twice last week. That’s a photo of the Wednesday game (we won!). We look at bit disheveled because it was 105 degrees at the stadium.

And here’s a photo from a few weeks ago when I brought my mom and sister to the work suite.

I go back next week to see ’em beat the Yankees again. Go Rangers!

This morning I walked into church ready to teach my normal all-girl Sunday School class. But because of a series of very random and unexpected events, somehow I ended up having to teach our entire singles’ department this morning. Including the guys.

<<< gasp >>>

Yes, I’m Baptist, so you probably shouldn’t tell anybody that I taught a coed group. Luckily, there was no pulpit, and no sermon, and technically our church policy allows female guest teachers as long it’s not a married class. Until you take that ultimate plunge, it’s okay to hear from an old single gal every once-in-awhile. At least, according to the bylaws.

So I went ahead and taught the group. It was scary having all of my friends staring back at me. Here were people I’ve known for years, but had no intention of ever TEACHING. But somehow, God moved this morning in Sunday School and people opened up and started sharing. It was amazing.

We talked about the people of Thessalonica and how they had endured a heck of a lot of suffering, and Paul gave them some encouragement. He told them to keep plugging along, to not give up. They weren’t alone. God was with them, and much, much stronger than they could ever imagine. I wrote back in January about weathering storms, and this morning the folks in my class gave me some other great verses to keep in your back pocket for when those rains come. Because we all know it’s just a matter of time.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Psalm 33:11
“But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

Proverbs 19:21
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

Proverbs 20:24
“A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?”

Here’s to hoping that you and I don’t need any verses about weathering storms for a long time. But if we do, it’s good to have them handy.

I teach Sunday School at my church. I’ve done it for the past two-and-a-half years, and I absoltutely love it. Mostly because it gives me an excuse to

Today I stumbled across some pictures and the Web site for my old job. Back in college, I spent three summers teaching cheerleading camps all over Texas (and a fateful camp in New Mexico… but that’s another story). Sometimes we stayed in dorms (good old Texas Women’s University was my second home each summer), sometimes we stayed in po-dunk motels (Motel 6 was one of the nicer ones), and once I stayed in a renovated hospital clinic (again… the New Mexico story).

But along the way, I made some wonderful friends and learned a lot about leading, public speaking, problem solving, and choreographing funny skits to N’Sync songs to get cheap laughs out of high school kids. ACA (American Cheerleaders Association) was a wonderful job, and looking back at all of those pictures made me miss it. I can’t believe it’s been 9 years since I taught my first camp. Which means it’s been 7 years since my last back flip. Thank goodness for that one.

So Brad, I’m sorry for kicking you in bad places while practicing our stunts (thanks for never dropping me on my head). Ashley, I miss killing time by trying to see how curly we could make our hair and how much glitter we could spray on ourselves. I miss practicing our dances until I felt like I was going to collapse. I have good memories of sitting on the floor in the dorm hallway, listening to funny stories from Alton until we all cried. Or late night Sonic runs because the dorm food was so gross and we were starving. I even miss the long days outside in the brutal Texas heat, because it meant I was being paid to play around with friends. It was a privilege to work with high school kids from all over the state, and my favorite job before I entered the “real world.”

Thanks ACA!

I can’t BELIEVE DeAnna picked Jessie the skater dude on The Bachelorette finale! It just goes to show that love makes people do some stupid, STUPID things. Like pass over several All-American guys for a weirdo with pink shoelaces and no job. Good luck DeAnna. You’re going to need it.

Even though I hated the ending, I must admit, it was fantastic TV. It was scripted just like a movie.

“I’m falling in love with you… BUT… I love another guy more.”

“I think I can picture myself spending the rest of my life with this man… if only he had pink shoelaces instead of a 9-to-5 job.”

“I realize my entire family is disgusted by my one suitor, and completely in love with my other beau, but forget them. I’m going for the wild card!”

Oh, and my favorite. “I’ve never been in love with anybody else before. Yes, I did live with some other chick for TWO YEARS, but that wasn’t love. I was just taking her out for a test drive. Gotta kick the tires a little.”

Please.