Bbbring, bbbring!

On Sunday I received a new calling. A calling is a job at church that you do as a volunteer. I really loved teaching the six year olds, but was VERY excited for this new job. I was asked to teach the adults the Old Testament and I was delighted! To make things that much better, my replacement teacher for the six year olds is so amazing! I know those little ones will be in good hands.

So here is a question for you: What about the Old Testament is difficult for you?
A. The stories seem so incredible, it is hard to believe.
B. The language is confusing. Why did they write like that?
C. It's R-rated, lots of people die and stuff.
D. Giants, unicorns, talking donkeys, and parting a sea? C'mon.

Well, once upon a time, I taught the scriptures. I know, actress, optometrist, pro tile-setter, computer programmer, seminary teacher? Seems almost as incredible as the O.T.! At any rate, I had the chance to teach other books of scripture, but never the O.T., and I love the O.T.! (Yes, even Isaiah. Maybe that is because he was a poet, and I am too.) I love making it easy for people to understand.

On an academic note, I finished my Computer Systems class on Friday night when I took my final exam. I can't say I am disappointed to set aside machine language (0's and 1's) and move forward with C++ programming. Machine language is one of those torturous things that old programmers decided every programmer needed to suffer through to be a REAL programmer, so there. I did it, I will probably NEVER use it again, but at least I can say, "Been there, done that." I can officially "speak" to a computer in its own language without a translator. Yippee.

On a political note, how about that Karzai? The US Government is just beaming with trust for that fella, wouldn't you say? {sigh} So much for the corrupt ballot. I can't imagine living in a country ruled with fear. Americans have it so good, and yet we gripe and complain and then fail to vote. Don't get me started on the over privileged, mentally siloed, and self-centric. We just don't realize how good we have it. Don't you just wish you could do something to help the Afghans? I do. Speaking of doing something, how wonderful that Mrs. Obama prepared an announcement on how to donate to Haiti fund via text message? Wasn't that just cool?


Now for a follow-up on the Budget. We have experienced some growing pains. I am rarely surprised by anything, but when I added up how much we spent on food between January 1-18, I gasped in shock. Well, that is the purpose of a budget, after all, to discover the leaks, and fill them! I guess this limits how many bottles of Bistro vinegar I can purchase now. We actually had a little moment yesterday where we were determining who was the big spender in the family. If there were more than two of us, it would make this conversation much easier.

Considering that the allotted funds for food was on the extreme end of spent, I was reasonably motivated this morning to get up a little earlier and put together some chicken wraps with swiss for lunch, not to mention the need to shave some poundage by eating a specified number of calories as well. I proudly pledge my allegiance to celery with raw peanut butter, and Wasa Crackers with Laughing Cow cheese in lieu of heftier snacks. I also took time to walk the stairs and stroll around during breaks between meetings. I dodged several bullets today, including Red Vines, Dove dark chocolate hearts, bagels with honey almond cream cheese, Snickers bars, and Jelly Life Savers. Well, speaking of fitness, I am off to exercise. I have conquered food today, and now to conquer my comfy bed's attempts to turn my body into a gelatinous mass for the evening.