From the Inside Out

Wow, today was jammed packed with activities from beginning to end. So much for a nice relaxing weekend that recharges your batteries. C’est la vie! My day included (1) a church service, (2) lunch with friends, (3) One Life prep/cleaning, (4) baby shower, and (5) a One Life meeting at my house. Whew, no wonder I’m tired.

I actually feel more tired now than when the weekend began. There’s something very wrong about that. I’m supposed to be rested and ready to face Monday. I’m not. I think I need another weekend to recover from my weekend. Luckily, the Labor Day holiday is coming up. Perhaps I can recover then.

I think my brain has decided to shut down for the night, so I’m signing off — all profound thoughts and insight will just have to wait until later.

Have a great week!

Gary and I wrote a play last year for the ALC Drama Players. And Then There Was One is a “whodunit” murder mystery. Ten strangers are snowed in, out of power, and no one can escape. One by one people start dying until there’s only one person left.

The play was a big hit at ALC, and I was approached earlier this year by a church in Denison that wanted to use it for a dinner theater production this summer. We made a few arrangements and voila! It was done.

Tonight we went to see the show. They made us feel very special from the moment we arrived. We got the best seats in the house and were recognized by the organizers of the show. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the end along with a gift card for dinner. It was such a nice treat!

We had a fabulous evening. The food was great, and the cast did an outstanding job with the production. I really enjoyed watching what the directors and actors did with the characters. That’s the great thing about a play. It’s a living entity. Each actor brings a bit of their own personality to a character, so it’s always a little different depending on who is playing the part. In addition, the cast threw in a few surprises which had me laughing out loud. Below is a picture I snapped during Act One.

Watching the show was a neat experience although it’s difficult to explain exactly how I felt as others performed my work. I’m having trouble putting it into words. I guess I’d have to say that it was a mixture of joy, excitement and pride coupled with a sense of accomplishment. I’m so thankful that God has used us to reach out to people and convey His message through drama evangelism. Now that message is extending beyond the walls of ALC. Isn’t that amazing?

Tonight our church hosted a “red carpet” event for all the volunteers. It was a fun evening, but don’t be mislead by the “red carpet” description — it was not a formal affair. The organizers were secretive about the agenda so we had no idea what to expect when we arrived. Most of us assumed that it would be a dinner at the church, but upon arrival we learned that we were being ushered to some secret location for food and activities.

I have to be honest. I’m not a big fan of secret surprises. I tend to avoid events that don’t provide an agenda. It’s just not my thing — I like being informed and knowing what to expect in advance. However, it was neat that the church was (1) trying to do something different and (2) trying to create a sense of excitement. I applaud them for that. They were very creative and worked hard to honor their volunteers.

After hanging out in the “red carpet” waiting area, we began our adventure on chartered buses. It was fun listening to all the wild guesses about where we were heading. As we turned onto 35 from 635, it became obvious to most of the group that we were on our way to Speed Zone.

After an informal buffet dinner, we received putt putt golf certificates and event cards for games and go kart rides. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ride the go karts. Even though I had dressed casual, it wasn’t casual enough (dang surprises…wish I’d known it was outside “sporting event” casual). I didn’t want to flash anyone in my short skirt while driving around the track, so I declined to participate which stunk because they’ve got some fun tracks. I also didn’t have my glasses (another side effect of the “surprise”) so I couldn’t play any video games. For those who don’t know, my glasses keep me from getting migraines when playing video games. I know it’s weird, but the graphics totally freak out my eyes.

Now that I’ve whined about the things I couldn’t do, I have to say that I had a good time. It was nice to hang out with our friends and fellow volunteers. We have such a great group of people. They are amazing, and I love them all. Seriously, you won’t find finer, more dedicated people anywhere else.

The ALC staff did a fabulous job of organizing a special event. It was a nice treat. I hope it becomes an annual thing, though I could do without the surprise factor.

BTW, for those who are interested, Xander is doing much better today. The swelling is going down, and he is recovering nicely. Thanks for the kind comments and well wishing.

I got up this morning and started to go through my mundane activities before jumping on my first conference call. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like a normal day. I tried to force myself to wake up and not be a zombie (I hate mornings). I checked my email. I took the dogs outside. Yeah, it was a pretty typical start, but wait…what is that huge monstrosity attached to my dog’s neck? Oh my goodness, that monstrosity is his neck! It was freakishly swollen about 2-3 times its normal size.

I didn’t completely freak out because I’ve seen Xander experience similar reactions after receiving inoculations. However, I’ve never seen it happen for no apparent reason. That worried me. I frantically began to rearrange meetings so I could take care of the poor guy.

I gave him Benadryl to make sure the swelling wouldn’t get any worse while I was waiting to get him into the vet’s office. It helped the swelling go down, but only slightly.

At the vet’s, I learned that he had a temperature of 104! That’s really high, even for a dog. So, he’s got a serious infection and some type of acute reaction. The vet wasn’t certain what caused it, but he gave us a course of treatment including antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Hopefully, he’ll get better soon.

The bad thing about watching TV during the summer is that there aren’t many good programs to watch.  We have nothing new saved on the PVR, so I’m stuck watching live television.  With live television comes commercials.  Normally, I tuned them out, but somehow the most annoying ones cut through and grab my attention even though I hate them.  Maybe that’s why advertisers love the annoying commercials — they stick with you.

Here is my top five annoying (and lame) commercials currently playing on TV:

Direct TV Terminator Ad

Driver Select

(Mostly played during daytime TV, but it seems like they play their ads during every commercial break.  This is an older one, but they all annoy me.)

Geico Caveman

Head On

He went to Jared

I couldn’t find an example for this one, but I’m sure you don’t need one.  You’ve probably already seen it a million times and listening to it again would probably make your ears bleed.  If Gary ever buys me anything from Jared, I think I’ll have to return it on principle.  I can’t stand their commercials.

So, that’s my list.  What did I miss?