A Glorious Morning

We have been seeing gorgeous sunrises the past week or so! I LOVE it. It is so nice and such a great start to my day to see such beauty in the morning sky.

*This one, I think, is my favorite!*


After getting to work yesterday, Collin texted me and asked if I'd seen the rainbow. I immediately went to the back of our building since I didn't see one out of front window and there was a double rainbow! So awesome!

Today we didn't have a beautiful sunrise, mainly because it's been raining since yesterday and will continue to rain through tomorrow. Ick. But oh well, the rain is needed, for sure!

I hope that wherever you may be you get to experience wonderful sunrises each and every day!

Cindy

Monday Morning Blues

Picture taken Saturday morning

That's what my morning has felt like. Cold and icy. Not really, but it hasn't been the greatest morning. I woke up extremely tired and then while I was getting ready for work my stomach started not feeling so great. So I sat down to let it settle for a few minutes and then of course by the time it was settled enough to finish getting ready I ended up being about 15 minutes late to work this morning. Which isn't necessarily unusual for me but I was going to be on time today if it wasn't for my stupid stomach! Then I get to work and my neck and head just started hurting really badly. And I didn't pack breakfast this morning because I had thought I left something here but once I got hungry I went to get my food and remembered I ate it Thursday morning. *sigh* Ever have a Monday morning like this? Plus, to top it all off it's been foggy and COLD all morning long.

Anyway... just because I had a not-so-good morning, I'm not gonna let it get me down! Today is still a new and wonderful day. There's still many opportunities for awesome things to happen! Plus, despite all the difficulties/annoyances I may face, today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24)

Be blessed today my friends! Rejoice today because the Lord has given it to you!

Cindy

Happy Day

*I know I haven't updated the gratitude challenge in a week and I'll explain more on that tomorrow, but for now, know that just because I haven't updated it does not mean I'm not grateful and everyday giving thanks for my blessings!*

Okay, so have you ever had one of those mornings where it just stinks? You wake up late due to nothing but your own fault, you're freezing cold in the shower, and you don't have enough time to blow dry your hair? That was only part of my morning. When I got out of the shower and finally warmed up I quickly picked out what I was going to wear to work this morning and was so excited about it. I was going to wear my brand new pink tights with a black skirt, white shirt and pink cardigan. So I start getting dressed and I'm pulling up the tights and I get them all the way up but I wanted to pull them up just a little more over my butt. And for those that might not know I do not have a small bottom. It's not big as in wide, it's large as in it sticks out the back of my body a lot. Anyway... I'm only telling you that so you can understand this... As I'm pulling up the tights over my butt I hear riiiiip. I look down at my butt and sure enough there's a HUGE tear in the tights. I was SO upset. I was really, really excited to wear those tights today. So instead I put on my black tights and was instantly disappointed with how drab my outfit now looks. (It's actually not bad and I still like it, it's just not what I was envisioning and in the heat of the moment I was exaggerating how bad it looked.) Then because of this whole tight ripping incident I spent like 5 minutes putting on the pink tights, taking them off and putting on black ones. And 5 minutes may not seem like much but it's a lot when you're running late and trying to hurry.

So I'm on my way to work steaming about how upset I was over my tights and that I'm now going to be a few minutes late to work because of it and I didn't even get to have a filling breakfast when I finally started paying attention to the music that was playing from my iPod. "Happy Day" by Fee begins to play. This was one of the songs that Leeland, the worship band at ALIVE (more about that this week), played this weekend for us. And I immediately just stopped my grumbling and began praising my God. How absolutely wonderful that God knows just what I need to make me feel better. I needed just a simple song as a reminder of how blessed I am and how even though my morning may not have started off the way I wanted it to that this is a happy day!

A happy day indeed!! My sins are washed away. I am forever changed all because Jesus died to save me! Every single day, no matter what troubles or strife I am facing, is a happy day!! A happy day because I am saved and I am free! Hallelujah!! Go and enjoy this happy day!

Cindy

Weather and Running

Found here

I think pretty much most of the United States has been hit by the giant storm system that just came through. I know it was over in the MidWest on Sunday and we just got hit early this morning. Foruntately I wasn't aware of any awful thunderstorms since we live in a basement and there's lots of other noises going on in the house. However, I was rudely awoken by our county's severe weather alert phone call at about 4:45 am. I opted into this plan so I will be aware if there's a tornado warning. I was not pleased this morning. It was calling to tell us a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued. I tried to go back to sleep but then at 5:05 am another call came only this time it was for a tornado warning. I'm terrified of tornados. So even though our bedroom is pretty much protected since all we have is an egress window, I still made Collin go out into the living room with me where we were furthest away from any windows at all. And of course there was no tornado, it was just the National Weather Service issuing a warning because the thunderstorms that were coming through were capable of producing tornados. Silly weather people. Tell me if there's a tornado actually heading my way that way I don't freak out for nothing. Anyway... we usually wake up around 6 am but at this point there was no sense in going back to bed. I'm a little bit more tired today than usual...

I don't know why I'm so terrified of tornados. I've never even seen one let alone been in one so I really have no idea what it's like. I'm trying to get rid of the intense fear they cause. I know it's unhealthy and when I get scared I pray my little tush off but there's just this uncontrollable anxiety that just surfaces when the possiblity of one coming arises. I guess it will just take some time and some more intense prayer to calm myself and get rid of this anxiety completely.

Yesterday afternoon I did my first day of the Couch to 5k program. I was so excited and hopped on the treadmill and set to work. This first week starts you off with a 5 minute warm up walk and then alternating jogging for 60 seconds and brisk walking for 90 seconds for 20 minutes total. By about my third round of jogging I thought I was going to die. Not really, but I felt really, really out of breath and my heart was pounding. I am completely out of shape and this was proof. I was glad when the 20 minutes were up and when I stepped off the treadmill to do my stretches it felt like I was still moving! And I could feel my heartbeat in my head, it was the oddest sensation. Once I cooled down and my heart rate returned to normal I felt great, but I hope the workout portion gets easier the more I do this thing!

Cindy

There is no Smoke!

I wish we would have listened... I knew about that old adage, but I didn't think too much of it because I figured they'd been changed recently. Well, last night was miserable. Our smoke detector in our bedroom kept going off last night. This is not a quiet alarm either, it is ear-piercingly loud. And I knew there wasn't a fire because none of the ones in the rest of the house were going off and there was no smoke or anything in our bedroom. Though being jolted awake by the smoke detector did freak me out for a little bit. The first time it went off was at about 11:30 (we had gone to bed around 10), so Collin gets out of bed and goes to make it stop but it stops on its own. He gets back in bed and it starts again. So he gets back up and fiddles with it and it stops. Finally. He climbs back in bed and we fall back asleep. Then at about 4:30 this morning it goes off again. Only this time it's not stopping on its own and poor Collin was struggling to pull the thing down to take the battery out of it; poor guy was asleep and not functioning fully. He finally got it down but it's still screaming at us and he struggles to get the battery out and when he does it's finally quiet. Let me just say, that was NOT a fun night or a fun morning waking up for work. From now on I will be changing my smoke detector's batteries every time we change the clocks for Daylight Saving Time.

Cindy

Wake Up, Little Cindy

Found here

I have a confession.  Mornings are hard.  Granted, once I'm up and moving about I'm fine, but actually waking up and getting out of bed is hard.  And it's not an every day thing.  It's only on days when I have to get up before 7:30.  If it's after 7:30 I'm good to go.  But the big problem is, I have to be at work at 7 so every week day my alarm is set before 6.  This does not bode well for me, especially since the sun isn't even up yet!  I think there should be a rule that you mustn't rise before the sun.  =) 

Anyway... this not waking up easy thing isn't good.  Especially when you have a husband who jumps out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off.  The nice thing about our alarm clock is we have an iHome so we don't (always) have to listen to annoying beeping.  Unless we forget to put one of our iPods on we wake up to music.  But it doesn't matter to me.  If it's too early the music won't get me excited to get up.  But back to what I was saying, it really bothers Collin that he gets up with the alarm and I linger in bed when he doesn't have to be at work until 10 (most days, some days he has to be there at 7).  So I've promised him that I would do better, that I would get out of bed right away instead of being lazy.

This morning I succeeded.  The music went off; I had purposefully picked an upbeat song that I knew would excite and energize me.  After the song was over I got out of bed and went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.  I then went downstairs and did a little bit of exercising and then headed upstairs to shower.  I got dressed and ready for work.  You would think that by getting up earlier than I ever do I would be in great shape time-wise for getting to work.  WRONG.  I was running a HALF HOUR behind.  How did that even happen!?  I don't know but it almost doesn't seem to be beneficial to get up early if I'm gonna be even later than I am when I lay in bed until 6:20.  No no... that's not true, it is good to get up on time but I just don't understand how I could run so late this morning.  Irony is such a weird thing.  Maybe like Collin said I should pick my clothes out the night before, but how will I know what I will feel like wearing the next day?  Some days I don't even know what I feel like wearing for that day, much less the next!

Anyway... do any of you have any tips on how to make getting up any easier in the morning?  I did succeed today and I must admit I was quite giggly and energetic, maybe it was the music (thanks Taio Cruz!) or maybe it was Collin rubbing my back during the music, but it was kinda fun being happy at 5:45 in the morning.  lol  I just want to know how to be happy every morning at 5:45.  =)  I think Collin would like "happy-morning Cindy" much better than "grumpy-morning Cindy".

*sigh* Changing habits is HARD.  At least this is a good habit to change to.

Cindy