So Here's My Life

The things we make,
the food we eat and
the shenanigans in between.

A blog about making things by
MICHELLE SEXTON

Thursday, August 30, 2007

It's been rough...

Yesterday was not a good day for Brody. Brody got neutered. We don't have a vet in town, so I had to take Brody to the vet in a town an hour away. Plus he also had to have surgery on his left front paw to remove a cyst. I dropped Brody off at the vet's office early in the morning, and had to wait until he was released after 3:30, so I had about 8 hours to kill in that town yesterday. I brought my camera with me hoping to catch some great photos, but because I was distracted most of the time I was taking pictures, most of them didn't come out as well as I had hoped. But I did manage to catch a couple of cool ones.













When I picked Brody up from the vet, he kept licking his stitches, so we had to put a lampshade thingy on him. I've never seen a dog so demoralized from being forced to wear a lampshade before. He hung his head, dropped his shoulders, put his tail between his legs, walked in a reluctant fashion when he realized that he had no choice but to wear it. It was terribly sad. lol.

We also had to keep him inside last night, and to make matters worse, since was raining, we couldn't let him outside at all, because his bandaged paw had to stay dry. So Brody nearly went crazy last night inside the house. He was so antsy. He kept getting up and walking around every couple of minutes, which made it incredibly difficult for us to stay asleep.Then at about 3:30 AM, Joel a bug landed on Joel's head, so he knocked it off with a couple of furious strokes aimed towards ME. yes. So then the bug landed on MY head. (aaahhhh!!!) And so I quickly brushed it off too, and then started to attempt at sleeping again - but then, I had this weird feeling...a tickle-y feeling on my abdomen- like something crawling on me. So I reached inside my shirt, and my hand found a BUG crawling on me!!!! I grabbed it, screamed in terror, and threw it away from me into the darkness. Joel was so startled by my scream, he nearly fell off the bed. He jumped up, kicking the covers off, and fumbled for the light, until he finally found the switch. I was so traumatized, I sat on the bed and explained my predicament, as he searched for the terrified bug. He found it, and killed it. It was some sort of cricket thing. By this time, Joel was incredibly grumpy. (He always is after I scream when I find a bug on me when we're trying to sleep) For the rest of the night we tried to fall back asleep as we listened to the dog flop back and forth next to our bed on the wood floor. Finally after several hours of this, Joel could no longer tolerate it anymore and got up.

It's been a rough 24 hours for all three of us. But as bad as this experience has been, it was far worse when Sachi got spayed a couple of years ago...at least that's what I keep telling myself....no really, it was.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Missing Chickens & A Total Lunar Eclipse

So this weekend we came to the realization that Brody is NOT a very good guard dog. My neighbor has a pen full of chickens that he raises. He had12. Brody's boundary does not reach the chicken pen (Brody has a wireless electronic fence to stay inside of), but he can see and monitor the chicken pen from his boundary. It's not too far. This weekend I was out one morning watering the grass (like a good domestic wife) when my neighbor had asked if I had seen his chickens. I hadn't. The gate was open to the pen, and only 2 of the twelve chickens were inside the pen, huddling inside the hen house. So I began to help him search for them, and we found several piles of black chicken feathers laying near the pen. Something had opened the gate, gotten into the pen, and taken the chickens. It was a sad realization. A fox? A raccoon? A porcupine? We couldn't find any tracks, because the ground was too hard, but it was something smart enough to open the gate. It was sad. My neighbor's face said it all. It was same look of disappointment and sadness that he had when we told him that our previous dog, Sachi, had disappeared. (Sachi was very good friends with my neighbor, she would go and visit him, and he would let her into his house, and she would lay on his recliner) So we parted ways, and continued about our day. My heart was sad for him all day. He was so proud of his chickens. Later that evening he came over, and told us that the chickens came back--all but one. (the pile of feathers). Whatever had gotten into the pen, chased them all around, and out of the pen, catching just one chicken. So the chickens wandered around all day, but eventually found their way home. And Brody? He's not a good guard dog. He slept through the whole thing. The whole thing.

Did anyone catch the lunar eclipse last night? Joel and I did. We parked the truck outside, positioned it to see the moon, put an air mattress in the bed of the truck, and sleeping bags on the air mattress. We slept outside last night (we live outside city limits) and watched the lunar eclipse. It turned out to be such a nice clear night, with a gentle breeze, despite the forecast of rain and cloudy skies. The crickets were chirping, and the coyotes howled in the distance (and of course Brody howled back). Then moon was so bright and full that it illuminated the night sky as well as the night scenery, but it did make it difficult to fall asleep. It felt like someone was pointing a flashlight in your face as you were trying to sleep. I set the alarm on my cell phone to go off at certain points during the eclipse so we could watch it (like when it started, when the shadows moved over the moon, when it was the covering the moon), which turned out to be beneficial, because we kept falling asleep. We were able to catch some of the cool parts, like when the moon turned and orange-y color, and certain parts of the shadow over the moon. Originally I planned on photographing the event, but by the time anything significant was happening, I was way too tired to pull out my camera (even though it was right next to my head)...I was doing good just to open my eyes and see the moon. We woke up just before dawn this morning and came back into the house to continue sleeping...plus we could hear people in their cars heading to work, and the mosquitoes were starting to come out. This morning I asked Joel if he remembered seeing the eclipse last night. His answer? No. Ha ha.

Monday, August 27, 2007

It's always on my mind.


Only 33 days until our cruise to the Caribbean. I'm so anxious, the cruise has been on my mind for weeks now. It seems like September is never going to come! I find myself constantly planning what I'll be taking on the cruise with me...outfits, bags, shoes, swimsuits, etc. I also think about what activities I'm planning on doing while on board...like checking out the midnight buffet, or going to the spa, or their fitness center. As the days go by, I get more and more excited, but it seems as though the end of September is still so far off!!! So as for now, I'm off to go swim some laps in the lake...that way I can be a strong swimmer when we do Snuba diving again in St. Thomas.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A spontaneous trip

So yesterday Joel and I took a spontaneous trip out of town. The problem was that we are currently running low on funds, so we opted for inexpensive activities. We checked out the Indian Petroglyphs a couple hours away, which turned out to be intriguing and entertaining. The view from the plateau where the petroglyphs were located also gave a spectacular view of the city, as well as the Cedar Crest, but the best part was that it only cost a dollar (and they didn't have change for a $20, so we had to scrape around the car for $1 in change, yeah it was pathetic) Although the petroglyphs were interesting to see, the desert heat took its toll on us, and so after an hour and half of checking them out, we decided to save the rest of the petroglyphs for a cooler day...in the fall.

After our adventure at the petroglyphs, we stopped at Dion's Pizza for dinner, and this got me thinking. Whenever I go to Dion's, I always order the same thing - a slice of pizza with tomatoes, pineapple, and mushroom (I know it sounds weird) with a fruit cup (my half-hearted attempt to eat healthy). I'm the type of person that likes to try different things at restaurants. I get tired of ordering the same thing over and over...except when it comes to pizza. When I order pizza, I like the same kind of pizza every single time. The more I thought about this, the more I began to think that having the same kind of pizza seems to be some kind of universal rule....it seems like most people like their pizza the same way. I find this amusing...but maybe it's just me. I have no idea why I felt the need to share this with you guys.

After Dion's Joel and I stopped at Ross (I always forget how much I like this store, even though its disorganization makes me crazy), to look for a cocktail dress (for me of course!) to wear on our cruise next month. I seriously tried on like 16 different dresses before I found the one....and I think that Joel just about died from boredom in the meantime. Seriously. He was going nuts. Poor guy. I can't figure out why he goes shopping with me sometimes. lol. I ended up settling on a cute brown, knee-length, spaghetti-strap dress with turquoise embroidered flowers and sequence, and a turquoise satin ribbon that ties at the waist. Way cute. (In case you were wondering.) I can't wait to wear it...but now I need some shoes to go with it...

Finally after a stop at Starbucks and Keva Juice (for me), we headed out, only to get stuck in traffic for nearly two hours. Yes, that's right. Originally we were supposed to get home around 9:30 PM, but instead got home close to midnight. Grrr...

So know you guys should sleep better tonight knowing about our totally spontaneous trip to A-town yesterday. Peace.









Wednesday, August 22, 2007

It's weird.

I have like 100 billion things on my mind right now. It's hard to choose just one subject to write about. But for now, here's my topic of choice: I feel like I'm kind of in a weird stage in life right now. Seriously. Joel and I have been married for almost 3 years now, and many married couples move towards starting a family around this time (if it hasn't happened accidentally by now). But Joel and I are not quite ready for that yet, for a couple of reasons 1.) because we have some major transitions coming and 2.) Our health insurance will not cover pregnancy for 9 more months (we are in the process of changing to Assurant Health insurance). So no babies right now. I'm totally fine with that...but still, I'm feeling a little awkward in life right now...almost like I'm at loss for a direction....sort of.

For example, I recently come to dread the question, "So what are you doing in life right now?" or "What do you want to do with your life?" I cringe internally when I get asked these questions. Why? Because in a lot of ways, I feel like I've accomplished many of my career goals that I set out to originally accomplish, and I've learned a thing or two along the way of what I do and don't want to do. I've worked as a Worship Pastor and/or Worship Leader at my church for nearly 5 years. I love it, but I'm not sure I want to do it as a full time position. However, I DO know that I want to continue my involvement in this area, but perhaps by contributing by writing music. I've also learned that I DO NOT really enjoy teaching in a school setting. I've also worked as a teacher for about 3 years. Teaching is not really my thing, UNLESS it's one on one teaching, as in teaching private lessons. I DO enjoy teaching private music lessons. I enjoy it a lot. I've also learned that I DO NOT like working for someone else. I do not like having a boss dictate my schedule. I prefer to dictate my own. I hate having to ask for time off, and when Joel and I were working as the youth pastors, I was constantly having to ask for time off. And this leads me to another reason why I hate the question I posed initially. My answer used to always consist of being involved with the teenagers. They always kept us busy. And I miss them. I guess I hate the initial question so much because I'm not sure WHAT I'm doing anymore. Everything that I initially set out to do, I have accomplished....so now I'm at the point in my life where once again, the question is posed, "What do I want to do with my life?" And I'm not sure I have the answer. I'm still figuring it out, but one thing I know for certain, and that is that I must be involved in music, and I think that may be teaching music lessons, and writing music. But I'm still not sure. In a way it's hard to really move forward, because I feel stuck in a small town with very limited options career wise.

So to the question, "What are you doing with your life right now?" here is my answer, "I work from home. I teach private music lessons. I write music. I work on music." But somehow my answer doesn't usually seem to get the response of approval that I hope for. I feel like my response is too "unrealistic" for them. And for the question, "What do you want to do want to do with your life?" I would have to say my response has less to do with career goals, and more with experience goals...like I want to travel to Thailand....I want to go backpacking in other countries....I want to go hand gliding. So perhaps my choice in career would be one that would allow me to do such things. I want a career that would allow me to travel. Yes, that does sound unrealistic.

A couple of pictures to share.

So last couple of days have been quite full. We attended a going away/birthday/graduation party for one of our teenagers. Here are a couple of shots from the party.





The picture above, I HAD to put in. Two little girls at the party were playing with some of the kittens, and tried forcing the kitten to drink by shoving the kitten's head into a cup full of water. I'm still learning to work my camera, so it's not a great shot, but absolutely hysterical!!

We also went mountain biking again for my birthday last Saturday.





And finally, here is our long-awaited bed. One of our teenagers is a welder. I came up with a design for a bed, and he made it happen. It's not quite what I had originally designed, but I love it just the same.


Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I'm home.

I'm tired. My brain feels fuzzy today. I'm in desperate need of some healthy food and exercise and some time with God. Spending the weekend at my parents house is the perfect opportunity to gain back the five pounds that you've worked so hard to lose. Oh well. lol.

Spending time with my immediate and extended family has been good. I'm glad that we went to my grandmother's funeral. It was sad. I did cry, even though I didn't expect to. Its weird...it's the part about saying goodbye for the very last time. It was like I just didn't want to leave...it was the end. And that was sad. I really can't explain it. But it's really ok. She was really old, and now she's finally at peace. So it's ok.


Here's a picture of my cousins and my sister from this weekend.
I think there's a strong family resemblance.

I have a goal to start reading through the Bible in a year...or close to a year. I got a bible that has everything laid out in calender dates, and you read certain passages in the Bible according to the day. The only problem is that the starting point is January 1...and today is not January 1, it's August 15. And starting on Aug 15 is like starting in the middle of a book...you just don't do that. So I was thinking that I'd wait until January 1st to start reading through that particular Bible...but maybe I'll start on January 1st today anyway...

Today some Jehovah's Witness ladies dressed in long skirts came to my house to witness to me and give me some of their literature. I was tired, and really didn't feel like having a conversation....especially after this weekend. Our dog, Brody, can be incredibly friendly...and today he stuck his head up on of the ladies skirts...way up. And it was funny. And it amused me. And I let him do it...because I didn't want them over anyway. The lady said, "oh, oh!" and laughed as she pulled her skirt away from Brody's head. I'm so terrible. Ha ha. And my dog has bad manners when I let him.

On Saturday Joel and I are going mountain biking for my birthday. I've decided that that's how I want to celebrate my birthday. I'm looking forward to it.

My mind still feels like mush from this weekend. It's kind of obvious from this blog. I have one make-up piano lesson to teach today, and then I'm taking the day off...

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Update.

So my grandmother died last Thursday night in her sleep. Joel and I are in El Paso spending time with my family. Things are going well. The funeral is tomorrow, which is sad because Ruthie was supposed to come and visit me tomorrow during her road trip. I'm disappointed that I'm going to be missing her. Death never comes at a convenient time. At the moment my everything is going well. I'm enjoying spending time with my extended family. I'm also having a great time playing with my new camera. But I'm tired and don't feel like writing much at the moment. Peace.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

You didn't know...

that I'm a ninja. But here's proof.

Today my brand new Nikon D40 SLR camera came in the mail.This camera is amazingly-super-ninja...just like Joel and I. When we're at home together we like to practice our ninja moves...and now we have a way to catch our amazing skills with my ninja camera. I also managed mess up my alignment in the process of falling onto the bed after my ninja moves were captured by the camera. My chiropractor is going to kill me. Oh well.

Death is not always bad.

Yesterday I found out that my maternal grandmother is in the hospital. She's in a comma, and has been placed in the hospice section of the hospital.I do not believe that they expect her to come out of the comma. She probably only has a couple more hours to live, possibly a day or two. I can't remember the specific cause of the comma, but to sum it up, her body is getting old, her health has deteriorated, and to be a little blunt, her time here is just about over. It's a sad thing, but it's not too sad. She was very old, and it wasn't always easy to see her suffering. Sometimes death comes as relief. And her relief is near. And it's ok. She lived a long life, and was blessed with 13 children, and an abundance of grandchildren as well. Because she is in a comma, I have decided against going to visit her in the hospice, which is a couple hour drive from where I live. Instead I will probably wait and attend her funeral in my hometown, which is also where she will be buried, next to her late husband, my grandfather. I have visited with her from time to time over the previous year. And I have already said my goodbyes to her each time I left, never knowing if she would be alive the next time I came. I'm ok with not seeing her again, and I've come to the conclusion that death is not always a bad thing. The last part of Ecclesiates 7:1 says, "and the day of [one's] death is better than the day of one's birth." Her life was full of ups and downs, just like anyone else, but now her race is just about done, her course has been run, and she is ready to step into eternal life. And it's ok.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Never play with fire.


Joel is a bad influence for children. He also terrified the dog in the process.

Monday, August 6, 2007

So here's what I'm thinking today...

1. I'm reading the book of Acts in the Bible right now. I have to say I'm totally loving it. For real. It totally amazes me how quickly the message of Jesus spread throughout the middle east, and how many people turned their hearts towards God. Way cool. I took a course called Acts & Corinthians in college. I thought it was SOOO boring, in fact I thought it was so boring, I almost failed it. I was such a dork. I missed out on so much back then.

2. I'm still walking on the road to forgiveness. It's hard. I struggle to NOT lash out in anger. I'm not always winning the battle. Some days are better than others. The last couple of days have been more difficult than others. It's so difficult to forgive those who have wounded you so deeply. Forgiveness is not always instantaneous, many times its a long and drawn out process, where you keep choosing to walk in forgiveness...and sometimes you fail, but you have to get up and try again. I'm getting there...slowly.

3. Shelley sent me a link to this video yesterday, and it made me laugh hysterically, and I though I would share the insanity with you guys too.




Sunday, August 5, 2007

Mountain Biking!

So yesterday Joel and I went mountain biking in the Sandia Mountains. And it was SO much fun. Here's a glimpse of our adventure.

Riding the lift to the top.


Here's the view from the lift we rode to the top of the mountain


Joel is getting ready to go down the trail


The amazing view from the top of the mountain...you can see for miles