Thursday, May 29, 2008

How do you know you're addicted to blogging? (PART 1)

How do you know you're addicted to blogging?

1. You analyze everything in your life - every conversation, every photo-op, etc - asking "HOW can I blog about this?"

2. You bribe your dog with pepperoni, so he will lay BACK IN the middle of the pile of socks, in order to get the perfect picture for
SOCK-quel
because he ALWAYS lays in the middle, but for some reason, when you went to get the camera, he moved to the edge of the pile of socks.

3. You have SO MUCH to do in the next 2 weeks, that you barely have time to eat. Yet, you wake up everyday at 5:30 am to make sure you have time to read all your friends BLOGS.

SOCK-quel (SOCKS Part 2)

If you didn't already know - I used to have a problem matching all the socks at the COOK house SEE HERE - SOCKS
I just wanted to give you an update. Here's the update:
I'm still as busy as ever, so this is the LOWEST thing on my priority list. At least my dog LOVES it - he usually lays right in the middle, and scratches all the socks up around him to make a nice bed. See, this is why he's my (2nd) best friend. Not only does Dudley love me for exactly who I am, he makes me feel good at the same time! Thanks, Dud!

Monday, May 26, 2008

How do I know it's summer?

I have been blessed with an extremely talented husband. Dan established COOK UNDERGROUND, INC. (landscaping and irrigation business) over 12 years ago, and he has SUCCESSFULLY maintained it over the years. Because he spends his WINTERS doing laundry, making dinner, and reading at Barnes & Noble, here is how I KNOW IT’S SUMMER: (every year, it takes a little getting used to!)
  • Every week, by Friday, there is a LARGE pile of laundry in the laundry room. ALL of the laundry smells like DIRT and GRASS.
  • The Cook Fam eats at TACO BELL more than they should.
  • Even though the bathtub was just cleaned, (by a cleaning lady), there is a dirt ring around the tub, from all of the dirt that washes off of my husband’s body every day.
  • As I walk in the bathroom, I see Dan’s socks in the garbage instead of the laundry hamper, due to the fact that SHREDDED HARDWOOD BARK does not “wash out” of socks.
  • I attend most family functions with 3 kids, ALONE, as he is unable to show up, because he has to “Make Hay While The Sun Shines”.
  • The Harley becomes something REALLY PRETTY to LOOK AT instead of something REALLY COOL to RIDE, as together time is hard to come by.
  • When I hold his hand in church, he has dirty fingernails and calluses, that won’t come clean until November.
  • The pile of bills on the desk becomes smaller.
Thank you Lord for SUNSHINE!

How do you know when it’s SUMMER?

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Upcoming Events

Kaitlyn Marissa will graduate from 8th grade on June 5th, at 7:30pm at Spring Lake Middle School!
Tyler Wayne will play soccer this Saturday, May 31 at 3:00pm at Pine Park!


Eyliana Danielle will run a 5K this Saturday, May 31 at 9:00am at Lakeshore Middle School in Grand Haven for Girls On The Run!


Please join us for any or all of the above!!

Tuesday, 7:15 pm

Prayer Needed - there is a Board Meeting at school (WMAAA), scheduled for Tuesday, May 27 at 7:15 pm. I am hoping that the decisions made on Tuesday will start the healing process that is needed, which will then make my job (and many other's) alot less stressful. Thanks!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Coupon Receipts

The other day I was grocery shopping, the checkout woman handed me my receipt, and then said – “Wait, hold on – you forgot your COUPON RECEIPTS” – (What? Are you kidding me? You think I need MORE receipts to keep in my wallet? Besides, If I ALWAYS buy JIF peanut butter, why would I want a coupon for SKIPPY?)

I said, “Look, no offense, but I don’t want those.”

She said, “Well you've got a ton of them, what should I do with them?”

I said, “I don’t care, you could, well....let’s say..... – THROW THEM AWAY? ” (I am a genius)

She said, “You’re sure you don’t want them?”

I said, “Yes!!!”

So she looks at me and says, “but, you got quite a few good ones here!” (As the lady behind me in line is looking at me like I’m an IDIOT for not taking them.)

FINALLY – she says to the lady behind me in line, “Do you want these?” - The lady looks at me like it is HER LUCKY DAY!! Are you kidding me???

Do people actually SAVE MONEY with those things ?
Am I in the minority here ?
Don’t you just bring them home, and store them in the GIANT receipt box – marked 2008 ?
For real, maybe I live in a dream world ?
Seriously – who has time to cut them all apart ?
Then, do you actually remember to bring them back to the store ?
Please let me know if I’m alone on this.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Is change good?

For real - can STARBUCKS change the COLOR of their cups??? Ok, I'm only 33, but as long as I can remember, the STARBUCKS logo is GREEN on a white cup. (Ok, so they spruce it up a little for the holiday season too) - but this time they may have taken it too far! Does a Venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte taste the same in a white cup with a BROWN logo? Well I guess so, but I can barely look at the cup as I drink it. Apparently, the NEW design is really the OLD design - because STARBUCKS is going retro!! I don't care why they changed it - "I just already know I like it better the OTHER way!"

Sometimes I feel the same way about life. Right when I get comfortable - EVERYTHING changes. I've realized something about myself in the past few months - I don' t think I like change. Maybe I'm afraid of it? Is it good for me? Does it make me stronger? But, it seems like I just want to scream - "I already know I like it better the OTHER way!!"

Monday, May 12, 2008

Soccer Saturday

Tyler's Soccer Game this weekend will be at the Home Field (Pine Park) at 3:00 pm - see you there, if you can make it!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

~Seussical the Musical~

Miss Kaitlyn Marissa performed in her last musical at WMAAA this weekend. The cast of SEUSSICAL the MUSICAL consisted of 6th through 8th grade students that worked their butts off for 5 months! Seussical was a mix between THE CAT IN THE HAT and HORTON HEARS A WHO. Kaitlyn is the BLUE BIRD featured below:



She gets the dance moves from her mother - FOR SURE! (For those of you that don't know me, I am a professional dancer - I mean, I wish I was a professional dancer)
Watch below for Katie to do the CARTWHEEL onto the stage at the beginning.



Congrats, Katie - we're so proud of the young lady you have become!



Thursday, May 8, 2008

Friends #2

Thanks to Jackie and Pete for their comments on my previous post. I was just listening to "Your Love Oh Lord" by Third Day. The line that struck me was "...and I will find my strength in the shadow of your wings" -
From Psalm 36
5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

And I got to thinkin'..... If that's where I am today - under that shadow of His wings - I bet a TON of other people are under that wing, too..........

Maybe that's so we can all help each other when we're under there?? Maybe...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Friends

This is a weird post for me, as I usually always have something funny to say. But - I guess I’m just not in a funny mood.

I don’t make friends very easily. No - for real, like, it’s HARD for me to be a “friend”, and to accept a “friend” in return.

I’m fine with it, though.

Or at least, I thought I was.

Until recently, when I thought about how maybe God wasn’t fine with it.

Yes, for like 15 years God has blessed me with my BEST FRIEND, you know what I mean – You feel SAD, you call him – You feel EXCITED, you call him – You feel MAD, you call him (and take it out on him) – You feel WEIRD, he knows why – You feel SPECIAL, because of him. You get the picture….

But, what about the other types of friends?

What about the brand new friend - that you’ve actually known for years, but didn’t really “KNOW”. You know, one day God decides - I think she would be a good friend for Kristie. Next thing I know, it’s one of the hardest times of my professional life, and I’m crying at my desk - not because I’m sad – because I’m blessed by an encouraging email I received from my new friend. One that came RIGHT AT THE EXACT MOMENT it needed to, telling me all the good things about myself, giving me the strength to make it through the day.

What about the friend that you have at work? The one that shares her armor with you in the WAR ZONE, as you TOGETHER try to dodge random LAND MINES. The one that gives you a look, as she walks past your desk, that says, “Hang I there, I know we work in a ‘ONE FLEW OVER THE COO COOS NEST’ ENVIRONMENT, but if you can’t make it today, I will be there for you, and if I can’t make it through the day, you will be there for me – and we will both survive the day” – and all she did was look at you. The one that you respect her opinion more than your own, you tell her everything at work, yet, you don’t spend nearly enough time with her outside of work – talking about NON-WORK stuff.

What about the “friends” that are actually friends with your husband? Now, I’ve always been the type to “hang with the guys” – surprise, surprise. Even when I was little, I always hung out with the boys. But, what about those friends that I don’t even realize are guys, because if I had something important to say, they would LISTEN and they would CARE. (I was gonna say - that they LISTEN and CARE like a WOMAN would – but, I decided not to ☺) The kind of friend that knows you’re in a bad mood, but looks at you anyway, isn’t afraid to talk to you, and happens to know the right thing to say.

What about the friends that come with “fellowship” at church? I haven’t had that in my life before. Where you see people once a week that ask you “How was your week?” – and they really want to hear your RESPONSE. Where Sunday becomes about ENCOURAGEMENT, and not about sleeping-in and yard work. Where every SUNDAY NIGHT becomes about fellowship, friendship, laughter and fun.

Dear God, I am thankful for the friends that you have blessed me with. I am thankful for allowing me to realize that I need FRIENDS in my life that encourage and love me – otherwise I may not make it here on earth. Dear God, I ask that when you build my house in heaven, maybe you could put a lot of houses around it, so all my friends could live by me – and we would be able to worship you TOGETHER. (Besides, Elias will need us to ‘keep the rhythm’ for him, as I imagine we will all be clapping to the music……….)

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Dear Aunt Kristie....


Dear Aunt Kristie,
What do you mean you don't have a high-chair? No toys? No crib? No baby stuff? What am I supposed to do over here? What kinda joint are you runnin' here? Don't you have anything for me to do?
Can I at least play with the electrical outlets?
Or how about these? These look cool....
Or what about this vase thingy?I actually could use one of these.....
Like, how do I jump this thing?I love this thing, can I make it louder?I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to do this.....Do you got free texting?I FOR SURE need a camera......I love romance novels!Does Uncle Dan even need business cards?
Like, what does he use 'em for, anyway?Actually, they're not half bad......You ROCK, Dominic ~ Thanks for the visit!
I love you
Love ~ Aunt Kristie

CAPTCHA


A CAPTCHA (IPA: /ˈkæptʃə/) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine that the response is not generated by a computer. The process involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade. Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human. A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen.

OK, SERIOUSLY, am I the only "human" that is unable to work this stupid WORD VERIFICATION? Every time I leave a comment on someone else's BLOG, I have to do this CAPTCHA thing. EVERY time, I get it wrong on the first time. In the wise words of Tirza - Am I being PUNKED??? For real - like, I am seriously a "computer geek wanna be" - if i can't figure out how to do something on the computer, I stay up ALL NIGHT until I do - yet, I can't TYPE FLUENTLY IN CAPTCHA. I am a failure....

Another thought - if I can't even get my own husband to read this blog - (he is a real HUMAN) - then I doubt if a COMPUTER SERVER in the middle east will be interested in reading it. Therefore, I have adjusted my BLOG account settings - YOU are FREE to COMMENT here, and you don't have to speak CAPTCHA to do it.........

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Upcoming EVENT - Don't miss it!

Kaitlyn will be performing in her last Musical for West Michigan Academy on May 9th and 10th at Muskegon Community College - Overbrook Theatre. Katie will be starring in ~SUESSICAL the MUSICAL~!! 7 pm Friday Night and 2 pm Saturday!! Don't miss it!

Tyler Soccer Saturday....

Is at Pine Park at 4:30 pm - see ya there if you can make it!