Praying for Power

Days like today make me thankful and make me wonder. I wonder if I could live without electricity... I'm sure I could, but I know I don't want to. Because of today's weather, rainy-wet-extremely windy!, many people are without power. My sister and I went shopping tonight only to find that one of the main stores I wanted to visit was closed due to a power outage. I just heard on the news that many homes are without power, and I just found out when I came home that I uncle and his family are without power, which wouldn't be a huge deal except that he is a dairy farmer and has been unable to do the evening milking without power to run the milker pump. This basic everyday necessity was unheard of 150 years ago, and now we are completely dependant.

Not only are we dependant on power, but we seem to have problems when our cell phones die, or our internet doesn't work.
This day and it's obstacles help to put things in perspective and remind us of just how great we've got it. I have to thank God for those little reminders.

Speaking of thanking God... I just found out tonight that Garth Brooks' song "Unanswered Prayers" is being made into a Lifetime movie. I am so excited. I've always loved the message of that song, and of course I like a good Lifetime movie.

Back to God and life's good things... we have so much technology, so many resources and so much potential right at our fingertips. I hope we all use it. I know I need to be better at taking full advantage of all of the opportunities I'm given, as well as the skills and abilities I have. If I put it all together I know I am capable of accomplishing much.

Now the only problem is--what is it that I want to accomplish?

Pirate Ship, School House, Uffda!

I have to admit, sometimes my life is pretty darn easy. Today, for example, I am subbing in a high school media center. Though I will have 3 hours of unruly, large groups of students, half of my day will be spent largely alone, checking out the occasional book and supervising a few study hall students who will wander in and out. So, what am I doing in the meantime? Decorating a school house. It's actually kind of sweet. I have a white tag board school house silhouette and I get to make it pretty. I did a pirate-ship this summer for a program at the public library (I should post a picture) and I was asked to work some magic with the school house. So far I've cut light salmon/tan colored paper into strips, for siding, and I've traces roof pieces of out of coffee sleeves (those cardboard things that go around hot cups at coffee shops). Days like this are great, I get things done, while I get paid to do other things.

I feel a little bit guilty sitting here and being paid to do very little actual work. But, I've realized something as I've had a few jobs and done some different things... in many cases, we are being compensated for our time, not just our productivity. Of course, that doesn't mean we should sit at our jobs and do nothing, but it does mean that sometimes someone just needs to be present. Time is a valuable thing, therefore, we should be compensated for giving our time.

I've also used some of this bonus time to look into teacher license renewal and think about getting a real job. Both should be goals of mine... that's as far as I got in my thoughts.

Lately, I have felt a serious push to get organized and declutter my life. I took a quiz last night in an organizing book. To my astonishment, I was only on the 2nd level of needing to get organized. I expected to be off the charts. My main issue is that I simply throw things away. I need to be better as passing things on to other people, worthy causes, or rummage sales. I think part of my problem is that I don't want to throw good stuff away, but I don't want to deal with finding a new place/home for things, therefore keep and toss become my only options.

I also need to expand my regular speaking and typing vocabulary. I know plenty of words, why don't I use them?