Therapy Baking & Peanut Butter Zoom

Those of you who know me well enough, know that I therapy bake. Some people drink, some people paint... when I get stressed, I bake. It's great for the co-workers though! I bring all my treats to work the next day. So as my house smells like chocolate, and my cake is in the oven, I'll tell you about my past 24 hours. Kennedy, recently turning 6, requested a guinea pig for her birthday. Now, I didn't know very much about them, but we pigsat for a friend's guinea pig (thanks Claire!) to make sure we could handle it. We did fine, so we got one. Her name is Reese Cup. She looks like peanut butter and she had a mohawk down her back when we first got her. Now that she is fattening out, the mohawk is flattening out. She is cute and cuddly, and has only bitten me once. So, as we were cleaning her cage last night, she hurled herself over the edge and down about 2 feet to the ground and then ran under the entertainment center. No matter how far we coaxed her out last night, as soon as anyone flinched....ZOOM! Guinea Pig 500-little streak of peanut butter dashing back under the entertainment center. So I left her there. I was half wondering if I would end up with a pig in my hair midway through the night. She DOES love to tangle all up in my hair. Yeah, she is MY pet and I still say, "EWWW!" Her little fingernails do NOT feel OK in my hair. But she stayed there all night...all day...and was there until about an hour ago when I put on my war paint, got my trap set and went in for the capture. I went like this, she went like that. I said to Hollywood, "Where'd she go?" Hollywood says, "Where'd whooooo go?" (Top Gun Quote, if you didn't get that). Then I made my move...(insert official war/karate sounds here), and BAM! She was trapped in a pillow tunnel. She looked left, she looked right...she had nowhere to go but straight toward me. So I got her. Woo-hoo! But it stressed me out so much I had to bake. LOL. Hope you all are doing well!!! I will try to get back to blogging every now and again! And if you are wondering, I did NOT win the pickle contest-although I believe with every bit of me that even my dumb names were better than the winners. Not bragging...just saying...if I was judging the contest..well, of COURSE I would have won :) But thanks for your prayers!

"Add" itude Check

OK, so today is a pretty stressful day. I am at work with piles of stuff around that I can't seem to get to and I am getting frustrated. My attitude is not quite where it needs to be. And I go to the doctor and get what could be some not so great news-but could be fine-we'll see in 6 weeks. Meanwhile, I am lecturing a friend on his attitude and all the while, Hello? Get the plank out of your own eye, Stephanie. My attitude has been bad today. And the worst part? How much of my bad attitude did I "add"? I am paranoid, pouty, worrying about scenarios that might not even happen, yet they are affecting my attitude. How much of my mood is because I filled my own head full of stuff that I don't need to think about? I reminded my friend, and myself in the process, that people are watching. I am a Christian, and not only is it a duty, but it is a great opportunity to show people that the love of Christ is enough to sustain me-even in the tough times. I know that when I worry, it saddens God because in essence I am saying that I don't trust Him. How guilty does that make me feel? If He were looking at me with His hands out saying, "Don't you trust me?" I would be like that cartoon dog nodding my head up and down as fast as I could with my eyes wide open... "Of course, Lord! Yes, I trust You." Buy why is it so hard to make that attitude come to the forefront when you are burried in your own thoughts? Umm...let's see...because you are burried in YOUR OWN thoughts? We can't always see His answers. And we don't always understand, but sometimes it's because we have added so many of our own ideas of how WE need to handle it, that we can't get clear direction. Meanwhile, Satan gets into our heads and begins to manipulate. Pretty soon, our families, our friends and our coworkers see a grumbling, groaning, seemingly hopeless person who is NO reflection of God and all the glories He bestowes upon us.

1 Peter 5:6-9 says, "6.Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, 7.casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you. 8.Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 9.Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world."

That's not to say we won't ever naturally feel down, confused or disappointed. We ALL have problems, and we ALL suffer. But it's our attitude that shows the rest of the world if we truly trust God, or if the Devil just won. Even for the day. One bad attitude is a missed opportunity to show God's faithfulness. I am going to try and get my "add" itude in check for tomorrow!

The Pickles

OK, I need to blog so you all would know what I asked you to pray for...

Mt. Olive pickle company held a contest through the end of December for naming what they called the "Pickle Pak". The product is individually packaged pickle cups to pack in lunches. Mt. Olive came up with four characters that each had unique personalities. Each of the characters needed a name and the contest was to name the pickles. I submitted countless names but only 2 that I feel are worthy of winning. However, their website still says "thanks for playing" with no winning names appearing. I feel that if I had won, I would have heard something by now, but the door is not closed yet. The prize for each winning name is $7,500. As you all know, I am not a greedy person at all. However, my debt mountain would look so much more attractive with...let's say....a few thousand dollars chunked off the top. The website is picklepak.com if you want to see these cool new friends of mine. Again...the door is not closed yet. So, pray for the pickes. :) Hope all is well and that you all had a SMASHING great Valentine's Day. I am going to bed at 10:30...that's what I say about Valentine's Day. Blah. XOXO