God is so good to me

it's been a crazy week.  how many of us can say that most weeks?

one week ago at this time i was sitting at my desk crying because i had the rude realization that i had absolutely no credit, meaning that there are so many things that i can't do without credit.  i felt so embarrassed that i got to almost 27 before i realized how important establishing credit was.

and then i went home and made cupcakes for my friend's birthday party that night - which ended up also ended up being a surprise early birthday party for me!  

a few days ago i was driving to my friends' house to babysit for their kids when wham - a truck slammed into the back corner of my car.  turns out the truck was trying to make a left turn across 3 lanes of traffic behind me while i was stopped at a red light.  a car coming in the far lane couldn't see the truck coming and they slammed into each other and as a by product, into me.

within a minute, 2 couples from NMSI, the Steiners & the Kuests, on their way home saw me and pulled over to stand with me, calm me, hug me, and help me figure out information to take down and talk to the police.  i walked towards one of the cars and noted how both cars were leaking fluids and were badly smashed.  i looked at Bob (who i call Papa Bob) and remarked, "I have so much to be thankful for."  No one was hurt, I didn't go into shock, and my car was barely scathed.  God's hand was on me!

last night after a great evening with my friends, i put my hand in my purse to check for my house keys and had the sudden memory of tossing my keys to my purse earlier that night at my house and missing my purse.  at the time i thought, "i better not forget to pick those up (and then promptly forgot).  all i could do was look at my friends sheepishly and tell them, at midnight, that i had locked myself out of my house!

my wonderful friend elisha offered to follow me home and see if she could help.  we found an unlocked window that we pried open and she could shimmy into and get to the door (no small feat, these are crank windows, not exactly spacious.  i told her i would never again begrudge her for being so much skinnier than i am - because God provides!  and it was a great laugh.  (i wish i could show you all the pictures, but i promised her i wouldn't).  :-)

and today i held beautiful newborn Madelyn at the hospital, daughter of my friends, the Fosters.  an adorable reminder that life keeps going on.

and my church increased my support without me even having to ask - what an answer to prayer!!

and the showtunes that my pandora station has been playing all afternoon are wonderful and i keep singing along for my poor office-mate.

God is so good to me.

mi casa

i'm all moved in, more or less.  things are still a mess and i'm waiting on an entertainment center to get delivered from friends before i start hanging things on the wall - but, i'm in.  and it is slowly but surely feeling (and smelling!) like home.

oh smell.  that was my one big hiccup moving in.  when i toured the house it smelled, well, like nothing, because i didn't notice a thing.  but somewhere along the lines before the other girl moved out and i moved in, she had guests over who smoked in the driveway with the house door open.  and in a house this small, the smell went everywhere.  smoke is one of my highest allergens and she tried to negate it with 8 glade plug-ins.  again, tiny house, way too much scent.

so i have thrown all the glades out, and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  and it's starting to smell like home for me.  slightly lavender and slightly of baked goods.  all is well.

living room (back door to small covered deck & washer/dryer)

close up on thrift store lamp & garage sale sewing cabinet - lamp is new, sewing cabinet has been around a while, aren't they great!

standing on the other side of the living room facing the front door.  kitchen is to the left.  isn't the "library chair" a hoot!?  as with the other furniture, they are all loans from friends.  it may not be my first pick in chairs, but it sure is comfy.

looking into the kitchen standing by the "library chair."  the eat-in counter wraps around.  it's a teeny kitchen, but has a surprising amount of counter space.

looking directly into the kitchen.  notice the little pass-through window that looks into what could be a dining room, but i'm using as a guest room/sitting room.  

close-up of the pass through window and my canisters.

bathroom shower curtain.  i love the bathroom, both it and the kitchen have gorgeous stone work done in them by the owner's father.  

pass through window from the sitting room.  this room is almost all windows and gets tons of light.  it might be my favorite.  it has a double bed that i'm going to use for guests or as a nice big couch.  someday soon i'll have a comforter to go with the pretty green metal tree that will be hung on the wall soon.

my bedroom.  gorgeous bedroom suite left by the previous tenant.  it's queen sized and right now has a double bed in it.  i'm hoping to someday have a queen mattress for it, but right now i am feeling so blessed by such a beautiful (free!) bed that i can wait for God to provide a mattress set that actually fits it.  there is a mirrored dresser that matches as well.  

well, there's the house!  it's hard to tell, but there is a chair rail that goes all around the bedroom and living room.  the living room is two colors (darker on bottom) and the bedroom is all one, which i would love to change, but i'll have to talk to my landlords (the wife is the CFO of NMSI) about that.  it's a cozy little cottage.  

come visit me!