Glass Half Full: 10 January, 2011

Happy Monday, everyone!


It's time again for Glass Half Full!!!  I'm hoping that I can stay on the ball this semester.  Don't get your hopes up too high, but I'm going to do my best for you!  :)  You know the drill (and if not, you can hop over here to read all about it!

Here's my story for the week:

After Christmas, I posted this.  Do you remember (if not, I still love you -promise!)?  I said goodbye to my "year of judgment."  I really did.  This is how I know.

I started back to school today, and I had all of those "first day of school" excited feelings without all of those "first day of school" expectations.  I'm not sure I understand exactly why this is, but it is, and I'm happy about it.  I also had no desire to do my normal nervous eating, like I usually do on the first day of school.

Along a completely different, but relevant line (I promise...), a long Christmas break is hard because we get off schedule, but this break has been good for me.  It's allowed me to determine what's truly important to me and what's not.  What type of relationships I want to have with everyone/thing in my life, and the types I want to avoid.  I truly came back from break renewed, which isn't something I can say about ANY of the other breaks so far in my life. 

So by now you're probably asking yourself why this matters -what makes this story a "glass half full Monday" post, right?  I don't blame you.

Here's the point:  Mind over matter.  I've started playing this positive -"live life, no expectations" tape in my head, and it's working.  Working REALLY well.

I hope you all have had a great Monday!  :)  If you did, share it with me, and then hop over to My Thoughts and Treasures for
and share your story with my friend Chantel!

Keep on keepin' on!

Once a Month....Glass Half Full!!!

When I started school I honestly thought I'd be blogging MUCH more than this, but I'm totally failing at styaing in touch with you guys and mostly  me!  Once enough on my little piece of space isn't enough, and I'm starting to feel heavy again -too many thoughts, too many feelings, and not enough Joyful people in my life!  SO!  To counteract that, I'll post my Glass half full NEXT WEEK, so start getting your stories ready! 

I have one for you.  *Ahem*  Are you ready?
I am now a full time student.  I am exhausted and we are SO BROKE!  :)  We have lots of love, so that's okay.  So I picked up a part time job to help Michael not feel so squeezed and obligated, thankful though I am.  It's a job where I'm working with children who can't really help themselves and need extra care.  In my interview, it was for a 1:1 position.  Well, I got my job placement and I have THREE children I'm working with.  Two are nonambulatory (Stuck in wheelchairs), all three are nonverbal (don't talk) AND incontinent (use diapers).  So I hang out with them, change diapers, feed them through G-tubes, and shower them.  It's WAY more stressful than I bargained for, but I like it -sort-of.  It's physically exhausting and emotionally challenging working with these kids because they're going to die -soon, in a few years, who knows....but it's coming. 
I was crying about it to my DH -he's really awesome, and you know what he said -"Babe -if you really can't handle it, it's okay.  There's only so much you can do and money is just money.  If you need to quit, that's okay by me.  I just want you to be happy."

*SWOON* 

He's so wonderful!  :)  Needless to say I'm not quitting, but I am thankful for an amazing husband.  I hope everyone is having a stellar Tuesday! 

I'm linking up to my long-lost friend Chantel's





Make sure you come back on Monday for Glass Half Full!  :)

Hoo are You Tuesday! :)

  Happy Tuesday, y'all!  I have started my official "Last week of work" count down!  I have 3.5 days left.

Today I'm linking up to






This is my third week linking up, and I like it!  I like having parties to be in -you know, friends, things to do and look at!  So while you're here, take a look around!  :)

This week's questions are....

1. What is your favorite flavor?  Hmm....That's a REALLY hard one.  I really like strawberry for candies, and cherry for slurpees.  Apple for pies, and well...can I just say that I'm very versatile?  :)

 
2, What was or is your favorite subject in school?  Besides music (I don't consider music as a subject anymore -it's my life...just to clarify!)?  That would be history.  My favorite classes in college where the elective Anthropology classes on Ancient Greece.  *swoon*  They were REALLY awesome!  

Does this make me a giant geek?  It's okay if it does.  I've succumbed to this...mostly.

3. What are some of your hobbies?  My number one hobby would HAVE to be sleeping.  I REALLY like to sleep {I'm one of those weirdo's that needs 9 hours of sleep on a regular basis, but can pull late-nighters when necessary}.  Secondly I'd say that's reading {this girl CANNOT go anywhere without her kindle.  In fact -it's in her purse RIGHT NOW!}, and then crafting.  My attention span is often times too short to sit down with ONE craft.  Cleaning is good for this.  These tasks are short and easily done, and allow me to think.  So maybe cleaning should move to number two {this doesn't mean that my house is clean...}.

4. Do you prefer fruits or vegetables?  Depends.  They need to be firm.  For example.  I can eat grapes if the pop in my mouth and crunch, but I CANNOT eat them if they are the least bit smooshy.  I can eat watermelon, but not peaches, and the weirdest one...I can eat Egplant but NOT mushrooms.  So -Fruit?  haha

5. What color of eyes do you have?  Brown.  Brown hair, brown eyes.  I'm terribly exciting!


 

 Happy Tuesday!!!

 xo~

 

Glass Half Full {4}

 Happy Monday, Y'all! 

Did you have good weekends full of great weather?  Bloomington was SO HOT -we basically stayed inside and were slugs.  Hey -don't judge.  It was really nice.

Well -it's Monday again, and while we ALL have mixed-feelings about them, it is time for the BEST part of Monday!  My best part of Monday, anyway {it's because I like you guys!}.  :)

New to Glass Half Full?   No worries....  :)

Here are the rules (drum roll puh-lease!!!):
-Write a post in YOUR blog about a time when you realized that your glass was half full (read: your happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories)  This can be past or present, please -no posts pertaining to the future.  :}
-Link your post to the Mr. Linky
-Put your name and the title of your post.  {ex: Briana ~ Always the Bridesmaid...}
-Visit another's story, and just tell them, "Hey, read your story and am visiting or following...laughing or crying, etc."
-Feel free to take the "Glass Half Full" image.
*I'll make sure to visit everyone's post!!!*
{To see more on Glass Half Full -see my page on it!}









http://priesterspeace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad293/lanieree/glass1.jpg" />
<center><a href="<a href="http://priesterspeace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://priesterspeace.<wbr>blogspot.com/</a>" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Life in the Pitts" src="<a href="http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad293/lanieree/glass1.jpg" target="_blank">http://i945.photobucket.<wbr>com/albums/ad293/lanieree/<wbr>glass1.jpg</a>" /></a></center>

center>

This week's Glass Half Full Monday is brought to you by.....

The Art of Friendship

As most of you know, I've just finished being a participant in the FIRST SEASON of Win, Lose, or Blog.  

I was the only contestant to actually GAIN weight in this weight loss competition, but that's not the point.  *Cough*  There were quite a few of us.  Some of us really rocked it and well...actually, everyone did awesome {I have my own thoughts on my lack of rocking}.  I had the opportunity to visit with these women, to learn that I'm NOT the only woman who avoids looking at her body in the mirror or eats when she's upset, and most importantly, to realize that friendship is not something that materializes out of thin air.  Friendship is something that you work on -maybe not daily, but that you do out of a desire to seek things in others that you admire or aspire to.

With that being said, I had the opportunity to catch up with a good friend this weekend.   It has been about a year since I've had the chance to sit down and visit between both of our busy lives.  Last year I thought I was the friendship queen {really -I'm a HUGE social butterfly married to a bloke who's content to sit with a book and not talk for HOURS.  I NEED female interaction on a regular basis}.  I had folks over, was social, and gave making friends in Bloomington my A+ effort.  Unfortunately when I lost my job and was unable to give my best A+ effort, I lost almost all of those friends {through no one's fault, I'm sure.  That's just the way life is!}.  Some made an effort, though, and that's made all of the difference.  I've gone {in a year} from social to solitary, and am beginning to break out of that and back into my old social self.  

It feels good to be the social me again, and I'm happy to say that all it takes is a good friend or two {and a Blogland full of friends and kind words!} to break ya' free.

Happy Glass Half Full, friends.  Thanks for making the effort -it means more than you think.

xo. 

I'm linking to: {this will be tomorrow!}  :)

FRIDAY...Friday....fridayyyyyyy Funny!

HAPPY FRIDAY!  I hope that everyone has an awesome day!

{via}

Welcome to the NFF folks, and heyyy to my friends.  Glad you're stopping by because  Friday is like a party day to me.  You wake up and you think, "OH!  It's FRIDAY!"  Then you're just happy {or maybe it's the opposite for you...but if it is, I'm sorry.  I enjoy Fridays}.

If you've been around my blog, you know that yesterday was a crummy day.  As in I woke up and then the day just seemed to be a mess.  I didn't even have to do anything to make it that way.  Then on top of that, I had a bad weigh in, my Blogger busted up my design {I'm open to a makeover if anyone has suggestions or materials...just sayin'}, AND fuss with my husband {ha! -fuss is not the term.  We had a discussion and that's putting it mildly.}

So I told everyone funnies yesterday.  Did you read them?  If not, you should.  They're funny.  My life is funny.  Especially since I think it carried over into today!   Ready for another funny story?  Ready?  Ok -good!  :)

So I wake up in my Friday-euphoria {see my statements about Friday above...} to my husband pushing me!  Yes -pushing me {the nerve!} saying, "Babe!  Babe!  7:30!!!  7:30!!!"  I'm thinking, "okay, that's fine.  It's 7:30...OH!  7:30!!!  GAH!"  He's the alarm setter.  I'm much more pleasant when I am not woken by an alarm so he sets his and we get up together.  This seems great, right?  Yeah -not today because he didn't set his alarm.  He forgot.  So one point for life -I was 30 minutes late rushing through my morning routine.  If you're curious, I managed to get all of my clothes on and in working order.

I get to work with my McD's unsweetened tea and I'm really hungry!  Since I was running late I tossed my oatmeal {pre-packaged, HA!  That would be funny...} into my purse.  I get to work get everything turned on and up and running and start my oatmeal.  Well, wouldn't you know, IT EXPLODED in the microwave.  Over HALF of it was spilled on the microwave, the mug, UGH.  So, I'm sitting here hungry and laughing and I can't seem to help it.  See -THIS is what happened....

{I'm really upset that my oatmeal exploded.  See...can't you tell???}

So you see, I'm determined to have a great Friday, even if it's not in the game plan.  I'm even doing a PG rated Burlesque exercise class tonight.  Yeah -that's right.  I'm walkin' on the wild side with my provokitive dancing and my exploding oatmeal!  Watch out!

Have a great day, everyone!

xo~






I'm linking to:

And.....

Hoo are You Tuesdays @ Night Owl Crafting

 Happy Tuesday!  This is week two of my participation in Night Owl Crafting and I am LOVING these linky parties!  :)  Are you ready for my answers to this week's questions?  :)


1. What are some of your favorite summer activities?  I LOVE to eat Watermelon in the summer as well as read on our front porch with the citronella candles lit.  I also enjoy being in any body of water be it fresh or salt, large or kiddy sized.  Sleeping is also on the list when it's too darn hot to do anything else.

2. What is your favorite flower?  Anything from the Lily family for their elegance, Lilac's for their smell, and Hydrangeas because they remind me of our wedding and my childhood {sentimental, sure!}.  Otherwise I really like flowers that attract butterflies {our butterfly bush is a favorite object of entertainment for me AND for our cat!}

3. What is your favorite meal of the day?  I LOVE breakfast -you know...the kind with the bacon and pancakes, potatoes and muffins, biscuits and gravy {or honey and jam!}.  Not eaten all at once, but THAT kind of breakfast!

4. How much time do you spend on the computer each day?  Too much -I sit in front of it all day long.  It's killing me! hehe  I'm ready to spread my wings and get movin' by the time I come home every night.

{This is me...can't you tell?  I'm wearing my super awesome scrunchy and looking really happy! Ha!}

 
5. Do you have any pets? Yes!  We have a Sussex spaniel named Saphira.  She's named after Eragon, but we didn't give it to her.  We just liked it.  We're cool like that.  She was trained as a field dog, but she's afraid of guns and is much more of a lover than a chaser...
 

...and a diva-drama queen cat named Daphnie.  She was a rescue from the shelter when I was in college and missing the hubs {he was just my boyfriend then} 

Both are very cute and snuggily -if you couldn't tell.  :)

I hope everyone has an awesome Tuesday!! 

 



I'm linking to: 

Friday = Party Time!

I am SO glad it's Friday!  I've survived another week, and I'm excited for the weekend!  Lots of good things are happening in the Priester household, and I Pray that they continue!

Welcome to my new friends!  I'm glad you've stopped by -nice to "meet" you!  hehe

This week I'm linking up to the good old New Friend Friday {a fav} but also a new party my friend the thrifty ba is hosting.  This week's theme {or the forever theme} is on balls!  I don't necessarily or intentionally decorate with balls, but in looking around to find something cool to post, I came across this pretty thing:

And these guys supporting my bedroom curtains:

But do you know who loves balls the most in our home?

{Saphira, our VERY (HA!) viscous guard dog...}

Nope -not her.....


Yep....HER!

{Daphnie-doodle!!!}

She LOVES balls.  Especially of the tin-foil variety.   Who doesn't like tin-foil balls?  They're shiny and make fun sounds when you chew on them {yes -she's cute but don't put it past her!}.  She's chased this guy for a good 30 minutes and is starting to become disenchanted with it!

I however...

{Do you see the cool little rainbow by the foil ball????}

...am easily entertained by shiny multi-colored things!



Hooray for balls, parties, and FRIDAY'S!!!!
xo

Don't forget to come back on Monday for The Glass Half full!  See you then!  :) 

I'm linking to:

and some new parties too!

the thrifty ba's ball party!

and 

 

Parties Galore!

I LOVE doing parties {remember last week when I posted about this}!  I love hosting my own {teensy-weensy} party, and I loved linking up this week to some new ones besides my normal Friday link ups!  I did one on Tuesday AND on Wednesday!  {Check back tonight for additional pictures from my Creative Therapy project}  Tomorrow I'll be doing my usual New Friend Friday AND linking up to The Thrifty Ba's new party.  I'm not sure if it's the same topic every week, but this week it's on balls!   Seriously -basket balls, marbles, foam balls, etc!  I'm excited because there is a certain family member who LOVES balls!  Nope -not my husband and not our dog.  I guess you'll just have to come back to see!  ;o)

I'm hoping to do a Monday and a Thursday party, so if you know of any, just leave me a comment!

Also -make sure you're getting your stories ready for Glass Half Full on Monday!