cool as a.....

We have air conditioning once again!! Well, let me clarify, we had the a/c all along, but the coils or something was all gunked up so the unit wasn't running to it's utmost capabilities! Now it is and I'm downright cold in here, but that's okay I won't complain. I'd much rather be cold than hot any day because it's easier to warm up than it is to cool off. So, thanks to my wonderful husband for getting on the ball with this and getting it fixed.

~*~H*O*T~*~!!!

It is H*O*T here! I mean it is !@#@^#&*@^%@! HOT!! (excuse my french) Our a/c unit is on the fritz, and my husband has plans to call a repairperson, but until then, it is so freaking hot! I'm one of those people that doesn't take the heat real well. If I overheat, I become very irritable. VERY! Any little thing can set me off, I hate that I am that way, but it can't be helped. So, here I sit at my computer with two ceiling fans, and two box fans blowing on me wondering how long it will be before our a/c unit is fixed. Hopefully, it won't be very long.

Dad's Day

Today is Father's Day. A day I have dreaded for the last month. For the most part I think I'm dealing with my dad's recent passing very well, but then I have a moment. While picking out a birthday card for my father in law at an upscale grocery store, I almost fell apart. And the same thing happened when I picked out Father's Day cards back in May. I just knew I would collapse into a crying heap, but I haven't. I had a moment, very slight moment today at church while leading the singing and again when I played my father's favorite hymn, but I'm okay. I am so thankful for a loving, Christian father who instilled in me the values of hard work, faith in God, love for family, and loyalty to friends. I only hope that I can give my children one-tenth of what Tommy Tipps gave me.

And I'm very thankful for the husband that the good Lord blessed me with, and what a wonderful father he's been to our children. I couldn't have asked for a better man and how I got so blessed is beyond me.

Art, thank you for all you do for me and our children. I cannot imagine my life without you. Your constant love and support, patience and encouragement are an inspiration to me. You are my hero and my rock. My heart will always belong to you.

We're Back

We're back from the beach and I'm ready to go again. ALONE this time! Well, alone with my husband. Those children about drove me CRAAZY!! But, I did have a very relaxing day at the spa where I enjoyed my very first massage (it was wonderful), a manicure and a pedicure all while Art took those children to the "Track" to ride go-carts, play in the arcade, ride the water bumper boats, miniature golf, and whatever else they wanted to do. Bless him! I have a wonderful husband! I'm sure he'll post a few pictures and maybe I'll get to post a couple here. Now, it's back to the old daily grind. Oh boy!

Live Blogging, Part Deux

Well, there's another vote being taken, still on the Clergy Jurisdictional, and soon there'll be a break and I'll be heading home. For only a few hours, just long enough to pack, clean up a little, rest for a few hours and then FLORIDA here I come. Art and I may try some live blogging from the beach.

Til then... ta ta!

Live Blogging

How cool is this... I'm sitting in the balcony of the "Methodome" with my laptop listening to reports being given and having a dandy time. I can see Gavo across the balcony. We're getting ready to celebrate our connectional ministries, i.e. youth, camping, corrections, hispanic, etc. This is one of the best reports, so I'll report more later.

Conference Day 1

Well, it's the end of day one of Annual Conference, although officially yesterday evening was the beginning. I suppose I should say today was the first full day of sitting, listening, popping up and down in the seats, singing, etc. As I stated earlier, this is an election year and we are electing delegates to General Conference. I can report the clergy has elected all their delegates, but now we, the laity, have got to get it together and elect 2 more delegates. I must confess I got angry today in the middle of the voting. I am angry because I feel that the younger generation (folks my age) are being discriminated against. It seems to me that the conference is uncomfortable voting for anyone under the age of 50. I realize that a large percentage of the delegates to AC are older (read retired) and are more likely to vote for their contemporaries, however, if we do not start giving the younger generation a voice, there will be no younger generation and our church will be dead! They (the majority) decided to only consider candidates who had already received 40 votes or more, well, I am not doing it!! I refuse! I have made my mind up and if I have to go down with a sinking ship, so be it. I will continue to vote for the person(s) of my choosing, whether they're winning or not! Call me stubborn, hard headed, whatever!
Maybe tomorrow will be better. Then I'm headed to Florida....yay!

Edit: I misspoke earlier when I said the conference decided to only consider folks with 40 votes or more. What I meant to say was that they were only reporting people with more than 40 votes. However, in essence, it's the same thing because not reporting all votes removes those other candidates from view, thus rendering them ineffective.

Brentwood Bound

For the next couple of days, I'll be representing my church, Harris Chapel UMC at the Tennessee Annual Conference in Brentwood, Tn. This will be my fourth time as HCUMC's delegate and the second time I've been during an election year. At this ann. conf. we will be electing our delegates for General Conference. For you non-Methodists out there, General Conference comes around every four years and it's a time when Methodists the world over convene to decide our ministerial focus, deal with any problems facing our church, and make changes to our Book of Discipline. Of course, this just gives you an idea of what all goes on at GC. Since I've never , been, I can't give you a complete list of what exactly happens during GC. A fellow blogger, Gavin, will be campaigning to become a delegate for GC representing the Tn Conference. Hopefully, he'll be elected. So, I'm off to sit for hours listening to reports, watching videos, singing songs, nudging my pastor so he won't fall asleep, and enjoying the fellowship. Since my wonderful husband hooked me up with a laptop satchel, a wi-fi, and some other computer stuff I'm not exactly sure how to work yet, I'm going to try to blog from conference. So, you'll hear from me on the road.

Lucky Me!

As if I weren't lucky enough to be married to Mr. Art Ruch, how lucky am I that he bestows such wonderful presents upon me? Talk about BLING! BLING!

Thanks honey!

Happy Anniversary

Here's the scene fifteen years ago. Our wedding took place in the same church where we attend presently. As I think back on it, this was the happiest day of my life. Did things go wrong? Yes, of course there's always something that doesn't go exactly as planned, but it was a beautiful day, I felt like Cinderella at the ball meeting her Prince Charming. While it hasn't been "happy ever after", it's been "mostly happy ever after". I don't believe in fairy tales, but this life, this marriage comes pretty darn close.


Here's the entire wedding party, with best friends, cousins, and parents.


This is one of my favorites. We still have this plate displayed in our home. It was a gift from Art's mother.


While I hate this cake, I love this picture. This was one of those things that went wrong, horribly wrong. It was supposed to be red velvet cake (our favorite), it was supposed to be heart shaped and stacked, NO columns. Well, the caterer called me at 12am the morning of my wedding to tell me we weren't having the red velvet cake, that she had been up trying to make it and couldn't get it to work out, so she just went ahead and made a white cake. Hope that was okay....Um NO! I would've preferred chocolate. Well, at least it tasted good.

Tagged

Well, as tagged by John, here are 10 things you may not have known about little ole me.

1. I've only had 2 serious boyfriends in my entire life. One of them I was lucky enough to marry.

2. I have had the same best girl friend for 23 years.

3. When I went to kindergarten, the other children called me "Bossy". I guess that was because I didn't really like sharing much, despite the fact I started when I was only 4 yrs old and that I had never been around other children daily. I desperately needed preschool, but alas that was back in the day when folks thought preschool wasn't really necessary.

4. People are envious of my hair. It's long, it's naturally curly, it's thick. I can pretty much do anything with it. I recently wore it curled to church and one of my friends said it looked like frosting on a cake. I'm still not sure if that's a compliment or not.

5. I am the 'baby' of four children and my parents were older when I was born. I always hated it when my mother would pick me up from school and the other kids would ask if she was my grandmother.

6. I play the piano and can pretty much play any piece of music put in front of me, sometimes badly, but hey nobody's perfect. Incidentally, my piano teacher(s) was a member of a fairly famous Southern Gospel music singing group. In fact, I think she's been inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

7. I have four nephews, 3 neices and 1 great nephew. The oldest is 31 and the youngest is not even a year old yet.

8. I balance my check book to the penny everyday. Or every other day. Since I work in a bank, this really isn't a big deal. Doesn't everyone balance their check book to the penny also?

9. This goes along with #6, but I am very musically inclined. I have been singing all my life. I started singing in church with my parents encouragement. I even won a talent show when I was 5.

10. I am missing a "switch" or so my husband says. This is the switch that most folks have that keep them from saying inappropriate things. For me, that switch that tells the tongue not to say what's on your mind is missing. I just can't help it, sometimes the words are on my tongue before I realize it.

Well, there you go, 10 things you didn't know and probably wish you didn't know about me.