Update on last post

From Walgreens:
Dear Erin Shipps,

Thank you for taking your time to contact our Corporate Offices. We appreciate hearing from our customers and value all comments received.

The check reader at the register read the wrong # on the last digit. So it sent the check to Erin Shipps account and it cleared. Paperwork was submitted to reverse this transaction and put the money back in your account. We just received confirmation from your bank that they will be processing this reversal.


*Whew*!!!

Because frustrations are just around every corner

Thought I'd rant a bit about some things going on right now. :)
1. I just noticed an unauthorized transaction on our money market account from two months ago! It was $212.99 to Walgreens, written in check form. Small problem, we don't have checks on our MM account. And who spends that much at Walgreens? I don't know how this happened, but you better believe when I actually find time to get to the bank when I'm off work and they're still open, they're going to hear it from me! I should have been watching this account more closely, but we only look at it when we need to pay Glenn's tuition. We can't exactly take a $200 hit at this stage in our life.

2. Glenn's program switched from JCCC to Baker as of next semester. Thus, they added two more classes, on top of two more we didn't know about going into this. So, he can take the two classes and graduate from Baker and if he wants to be a teacher some day, go back and get his bachelors in this program. OR, he can not take the classes, get his cert. from JCCC and be screwed. They won't let you into the bachelor's program if you do this. So, more time, more money. He'll have to go through the fall, thus postponing any baby ideas I had in my brain... I know it will be fine, it's just a few more months, but they program put us in a really tough position and it was a difficult decision to make.

3. I'm sick. :( Waaaaa

I love ugly old couch prints

It's been almost an obsession the past couple of years. I love gawdy lamps, sparkling chandeliers and ugly couch prints! The lamps and chandeliers will have to wait until I have more time and money to find them. But my awesome mom bought me this purse at Target and I'm in love with it. :) I got the smaller version, but you get the idea with the print.

Click here.

Freecycle

In an ever-growing effort to be environmentally conscious and grow our sense of community, I found a great yahoo group called Freecycle. It is a non-profit, grassroots movement of people giving to those in need. No money is exchanged, only unwanted items offered. So far, I love it!

P.S. I still have a lot of fish in my tank! haha

Why I'm voting for Barack Obama

I'm about to write something that I've been wanting to write for a long time and I'm sure a lot of people will not like it, but I have to say it. I've never been the kind of person to believe everything I hear or jump on the bandwagon of either major political party. I'm registered independent and I probably always will be. Neither party is perfect. This is the first election that I really feel a part of and that I really care about. I don't take my decision to support Obama lightly. Despite differences in a few things, I find myself aligning more with his ideas than McCain's.

I don't appreciate being treated like a naive Christian. John McCain talks a lot about certain things because he is pandering to a certain conservative vote. He chose Sarah Palin because he is pandering to a certain conservative vote. He attacks Obama in specific ways because he is pandering to a certain conservative vote.

The beauty of all this is you don't have to agree with me.

But I can't support someone who I believe is just telling me what I want to hear. What I appreciate about Barack Obama is that he says what he thinks and believes no matter where he's at. If you haven't viewed the Saddleback Civil Forum where Rick Warren interviews Obama and McCain, you need to.

The fact is that we live in a country with other people. Shocker, I know. Sometimes we have to make decisions based on the common good. Obama does not support gay marriage, but he does support the rights offered of a civil union. This is still a "conservative" view. While he does support a woman's right to choose, he also shows great support for reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies, which is really the underlying problem. People will always have abortions, whether legally or illegally and our responsibility is to help people not be in that situation in the first place. As Obama has said, we need to educate our children on the sacredness of sexuality. If our children constantly see sex on TV, in movies and hear about it at school, and we fail as a society to show them its sacredness, we will lose this battle and more and more abortions will happen. Attacking the result is never as effective as attacking the source. Catch my drift?

Should there be a moral compass guiding our nation so that all hell doesn't break loose? Absolutely! But we need a person who can represent and listen to all people, not just one group. In my opinion, Obama is a great compromiser. A presidential election shouldn't be based on abortion and gay marriage. There are such bigger issues than that! And, by the way, a president is not the only one who decides things on issues we care about. What about our senators and representatives? When was the last time anyone cared at all about those elections? (myself included) This week, I did my research and am now well informed for my local elections.

Obama prioritized the top three concerns of the public in the second debates: Education, Healthcare and Energy. (McCain couldn't do this by the way. He continues to support the idea that we can attack all three at once and we all know this isn't possible.) I absolutely agree with Obama's prioritzation of these issues. First, we must begin to actively pursue becoming energy independent. This will take 10 years so the sooner we start, the better! Ultimately, this will strengthen our autonomy and economy. Second, affordable healthcare has been something big in my life as my husband has been without health insurance for many years. It's scary. The number of people without healthcare is ridiculous. I don't want to live in a country where basic needs are considered luxuries afforded only to the rich. In the past eight years the gap between the rich and poor has grown astronomically and now look where we are. Finally, our educational system has become a joke to the rest of the world. Our country continues to fail in keeping up with the rest of the world and the best teachers are being shipped overseas.

Obama's priorities are right on. All of these are important and being able to say we can realistically do them is incredible. I need someone I can believe in. Not someone that I feel is just like everyone else. We need someone to bring our nation together, not drive it further apart. As people in the same country (and world) we NEED to care for one another! Have we forgotten that our greatest commandment after loving God is loving our neighbor as ourselves? And that doesn't mean harshly judging one another, hoarding our money and belongings because we "deserve" them and closing ourselves off from the rest of the world. And that is what we have become.

I don't want to get into a giant argument with people. I know some will disagree, which is fine. I just want people to be informed and really research the rumors they hear. Pick up an issue of Relevant magazine some time or read factcheck.org. Don't rely on what the media feeds you b/c it's mostly lies, overgeneralizations and things blown out of proportion. For the first time in my life I've really done my research and that is why I'm voting for Barack Obama.

Peace.

Crop boots!

My constant need, obsession, rage and craze to buy crop boots for fall finally came to an end. My wonderful husband took me shoe shopping as part of our date last Friday and after checking out DSW and Off Broadway, I was in a huff, totally disappointed by their prices. I was still spending birthday money, but wanted two pairs for the price, not one! Saddened, we went on and Glenn stopped at a music store. Lo and behold, across the street was Payless. I thought, what the heck, I'll go in and look. Joy! BOGO AND two that I adored! I love crop boots for their 80s flare.

New Automobile

Because Glenn's car was near death, and the availability of Honda Fits is ridiculous, we went with this nice little number two weekends ago. :) It is our first big grown-up purchase on our own and it's fab. Of course now I have to learn to drive a stick if I ever want to drive it. It is a blue Mazda 3i Sport. Yippee!

Why we love

Just got back from a show in Austin for work. (Erin, I flew into Dallas twice, so I'm sure I picked out your house. lol) I managed to get through to the last chapter of my latest Nicholas Sparks book At First Sight. I was so anxious that I could not finish it on my flight back today, but as I know his books so well, I didn't not want to be a blubbering, sobbing wreck on the plane. :) So, I waited until tonight. Glenn is at a session and it was the perfect time to finish. Only took me about 10 minutes, but I spent most of it bawling, of course. His books always make me think about life and love and tragedy. This time I wondered, why do we love so vehemently when we could lose it at any second? We never know what is going to happen in life and the thought of losing people in my life scares me to death. Perhaps I worry too much about it. I mean, if you're too scared to lose love, you'll never fully embrace it.

I have faced tragedy in my life. At 15, my friends and I experienced the loss of a friend to cancer that will forever bond us and still makes me cry to this day. I have written about it many times, but looking back I always see how she changed my life. I realize, maybe for the first time, that her life was about so much more than tragedy and the sadness we all felt following her death.

I do love passionately and that may be why I am so afraid to lose it. I don't know how to be without love. I buy a dog, love him, nurture him, laugh because of him, only to know that one day I will weep uncontrollably when he dies.

I often have nightmares about losing my family or friends and I don't know how to deal with those when I wake up. I want children so badly, but seeing tragedy in other people's lives and knowing that anything could happen to a child sometimes deters my spirit. How could I bring something into the world that I know I will love so much and possibly lose? Or that something could happen to one of us? But I know that any parent would say tragedies were worth every smile from that child's face; and the love we feel in any amout of time with that child far surpasses the sadness we may feel.

I had to accept death from what seems like such a young age now, but accepting something and understanding it are totally different. I will never understand death. I've quoted C.S. Lewis' saying many times in my life, but he once said that death is foreign to us because we were created to be eternal beings. Why I hold on to this statement, I don't know. But possibly, it makes some sense of the unknown and offers me some sort of peace about the future.

Fish!

Anyone in the area want some baby fish? I have three fish about to give birth (two guppies and one dalmation molly). They're probably a couple weeks away, but wondered if anyone was interested. I don't want them to get eaten and I can't keep all of them, so let me know! Of course this is all assuming I catch them giving birth before they eat them all!

Revival

I think God has really been opening me up the past couple of months. It's a strange experience when you think you're doing fine and although you have had more down times than usual, you feel like you're trying to go the right path. But lately I've realized my life could be so much more. Our church has played a huge part in God working on me. It is everything I think I could ever hope for in a church. From the moment we stepped into that family, we have felt accepted, loved, encouraged and strengthened.

I used to think all the babies being produced in our church had something to do with the water, but after a year I can say that the love this church surrounds children with makes me confident about bringing a baby into it. It is an environment that blesses children and they will always know they are cared for. That is invaluable. I desperately want that for my children.

I've also been challenged a lot by Pastor's preaching. His style is deeply rooted in the Bible and he has walked us through many passages that have opened my eyes and my heart to many things. I have not had that since college.

The biggest things my church encourages me to do is serve. I'm not the best at social situations and I get a bit of anxiety, but I can feel God speaking to me (again, finally!) about where my talents should be used. I know it's God because I'm always taken aback at my immediate volunteering to do things! I do them without thinking now. We are trying to start ESL classes at our spot in the mall and with the foreign population that walks that mall every day, I think it could take off. My experience in Spanish and desire to understand other cultures better made me jump at the chance! I know it will be a blessing in my life.

I've also been immersed in a wonderful book called The Faith Club. It was written by three women: a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew. After 9/11 they got together to discuss their faiths and write a childrens' book about the similarities in their religions. It is fascinating. I have an amazing Muslim friend whom I met in college. She and I instantly connected because of our shared values and beliefs. She is very dear to my heart and a constant challenge to my spirit. I started reading this book because of her. I wanted to know more about the average Muslim, not the radicals we hear about in the news or the terrorists our government is constantly trying to convince us to fear, but those who practice real, true Islam. A lot of stereotypes are covered; the book is very helpful. I recommend it highly! I still have many chapters left, but I expect to be enlightened even further and learn so much about other people.

I'm really just tired of the world being segregated. Last Sunday Pastor was walking us through his plans for the next five years since it was the church's five-year anniversary. He touched on the fact that people of all races are welcome in our church. It took me aback at first like it shouldn't even be something that needs to be said! But it does. I want to be a part of a multi-cultural community/family and I think we're doing our best.

At any rate, God is working on me like never before and I think I'm ready for the attitude change I will go through.