HELP!!

Help, I need somebody,

Help, not just anybody,

Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way.

But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

And I do appreciate you being round.

Help me, get my feet back on the ground,

Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,

My independence seems to vanish in the haze.

But every now and then I feel so insecure,

I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

And I do appreciate you being round.

Help me, get my feet back on the ground,

Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody's help in any way.

But now these daya are gone, I'm not so self assured,

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

And I do appreciate you being round.

Help me, get my feet back on the ground,

Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

("Help!" by the Beatles)

Aaaaahhhh!! HELP!! Where's my best friend when I need her most!!?!! I don't know how she lasted two weeks house sitting all on her own her first time! How did you do it!?! I am sooo done with this and it's only Thursday!! I still have a week and a half to go.....................

Cooper had diarrhea yesterday and decided to rid it from his system all over the white carpet, not just once....not just twice....yes, THREE times!! And then he threw up 4 times this morning! Yes, that too was on the white carpet. Gaaaah!!

The Beatles song, "Help" has a lot more meaning to it than just my frustrations with Cooper's bowel movements and stomach up-chucks. It was a song that was in my head when I woke up this morning and has continued to stay in my head. In my head I'm singing over and over and over....

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

Oh the joy......

I forgot to mention this is my previous blog, but I wanted to share one of the perks and joys of house sitting with animals.....

Just like humans, all animals have digestive systems and they work the same as ours, for the most part. And just like us, when something goes in one way it has to come out another. Having to take care of animals while house sitting is making this fact of life so much more apparent.

In past times helping out house sitting Cooper tended to go poop inside the house instead of doing that business outside, even though we gave him plenty of opportunity and time. D&N never have this problem with Cooper and so we just figured he was acting out. In order to solve this problem D&N watched closely Cooper's digestive habits. They discovered that he'll go pee whenever you let him out, but it isn't until about 10 minutes after he eats that he has to go poop. Sweet! Problem solved!

This tip has worked pretty well and I thought I was done with cleaning up after Cooper's "accidents." This morning I let Cooper out for his morning potty routine and surprisingly he went pee and poop. I was so proud of him because he rarely does that. He even got a little doggy treat for what my family calls a "good potty!"

He quickly began his daily ritual of chasing and wrestling with the cats after I let him in from his morning potty. I ran upstairs to grab my scriptures and came back downstairs. For some reason I looked into the front dinning room just to double check to see if any surprises had been left there by Cooper - it's his favorite place to go poop. And boy was there a surprise for me! It hadn't even been 10 minutes and he had pooped on the carpet! Das!

Usually cleaning up after Cooper isn't bad because his poop is on the harder side, but this morning he decided he didn't want to be that kind to me. He left me a pile of poop that was on the rather soft side - very soft side, with trailing spots of poop coming from the pile. Cooper knew exactly what was coming to him and tried to flee, but his attempt wasn't successful. I couldn't understand at all how he went poop after having just gone 10 minutes prior! Things like this make me wonder why people have pets and solidifies my desire to never have them. Cleaning up the mess was absolutely no fun and almost enduced the gag reflex. Sick.

Oh the joy of animals..........................

Another Passing Day...

I wanted to give another quick update on how my Beautiful Butterflies & Garden are doing. In the following pictures you will be able to see the progress of both the caterpillars and the flowers. The growth that I see from day to day continues to amaze me and leave me in awe. I love coming home each morning from D&N's to get ready for the day and see what new things have happened in my little garden.

Three of the five caterpillars have began the next stage in their growth to becoming butterflies. I recently discovered the name of this stage, Chrysalis. This is when the caterpillars embody themselves in a protective shell as they hang upside down for a number of days, in which they will emerge as beautiful butterflies. You can only see two caterpillars in this picture and they haven't yet created the prective shell around them yet. The third caterpillar was hanging, but fell. She is in her protective shell already. I'm just waiting for all five of them to begin their Chrysalis stage so I can take them out of the cup so they can emerge into their beautiful garden.

I tried to focus on the caterpillar that is already in her Chrysalis stage. It's hard to get a good, clear shot because these little caterpillars have made quite the mess on the sides of the container.

One night I fell asleep to having no growth of these flowers (Scarlet Rose) to waking up and to see four sprouted seeds that were at least one and a half inches tall!

After two days these four Scarlet Roses are nearly to the top of the tank! I think if I sat in front of these flowers long enough I could see them literally growing, that's how fast they grow. Incredible!

These flowers have finally made their way out of the ground. These are the hollyhocks and Asters. They were a little slow, but they are definitely catching up to the rest.

For some reason the two different types of Cosmos that I planted on the right side of my tank have decided to stay low to the ground. Their growth speed has reduced also. I think they may be leaning forward because they are trying to reach for the sun that comes in through my window on the other side of the room. I placed the fish aquarium light on top of the tank this morning; we'll see if they begin to stand upright again.

These are the other Cosmos. They are still standing strong. Their growth speed has also reduced, but they're still growin'!

I have run into a problem with my Beautiful Butterfly Garden. It's kind of a big problem. As I have seen the rapid growth of these flowers I began to wonder, "how tall are they going to get?" I looked at the packages of all these flowers and they range from 3' to 8' tall! None of them will fit in my tank once they reach full maturity or even before then! Gah! Wish I would of thought of that before! My goal in planting these specific flowers was that my butterflies will lay eggs on them because they are the flowers they are most attracted to. Others have suggested that I just take the lid off the top of my tank and let the flowers grow out and over the tank. But with an 8' tall flower plant!?! I don't know if that'll work. I have looked into getting a greenhouse type structure to transplant my plants into as well as the butterflies and putting it in the patio area of the house. I found a 7'x7'x7' greenhouse that would work perfect, but is quite the pretty penny to purchase. This idea is a possible solution, but it kind of defeats the purpose of having a Beautiful Butterfly Garden in my bedroom. Hmmmm. Any suggestions? Mom? Any from anybody would be great!

My trip to Idaho Falls yesterday to walk around the Greenbelt was a success; and quite enjoyable. We arrived right at noon and began our stroll around the water and falls. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We reached a high of 72˚ - just enough warmth to walk around in a t-shirt and just enough sunlight to begin my chaco tan - because chacos make the world go 'round! I wore my favorite HUG A TREE t-shirt as well as my Desert Rose Chacos. Sad to say, Cooper didn't have any cool clothes to wear, except for his stylish green color with his name tag on it that jingled with every step he took and his matching leash. What can I say? We were both pretty stylish. ;o)

This is Cooper sitting in the passenger seat of my truck on our drive up to Idaho Falls. He isn't afraid to be in cars like I had suspected, but tried quite a number of times to crawl over the console onto my lap while I was driving. He's just a little dog, but big enough to interfear with my driving. He had to stay in his seat; you can kind of tell from his facial expression that he didn't like that. Sorry Cooper!

This picture almost looks like a painting when seen if full size. It was such a gorgeous day yesterday and I was so grateful to have been able to make the trip to the greenbelt and be out in it. This was actually the first time I have walked around the greenbelt. I have walked/biked small sections of it before, but had never done a full loop before. It was wonderful to be able to take it all in as I walked around. I loved getting as close as I could to the waterfalls and hearing the peaceful sound of running water.

There was a park bench that was directly across from the Idaho Falls Temple. I sat down to enjoy the scenery, take in the rays of the sun, and allow time for my chaco tan to start. Cooper wrapped his leash around my legs a number of times and then tried to jump at the people walking by while barking. To say the least, his attempts were pretty futile as he choked himself from wrapped the leash around my legs so many times. Dogs.......

The greenbelt is a 3 miles loop. We made it back to my truck shortly before 2:00P. Cooper looked pretty wiped out. I don't think he walks that far in a whole week always being cooped up in the house and in his pen. I set out his food and water on the ground for him to replenish his tired little body. He took a few sips of water, barked at some passerbys and then stretched himself out on the warm ground.

We rolled out of the temple parking lot and began our way back to Rexburg at the strike of 2:00P. Cooper slept the entire way home. He was pretty tuckered out. I was a bit tired myself too. I got a little bit of sun on my face and arms; I'm excited for it to turn into a tan!

I had a few things to do at my house before heading back over to D&N's for the night. Once those were finished I picked up a few groceries (since I practically have no food at my house or at D&N's house) and a Jamba Juice for dinner on my way over to the house. It wasn't until I had let the dog and cats out and began to prepare myself to go to bed that I realized I had forgotten my pajamas. I have only brought the essentials over to the house - scriptures, journal, and a book - because I get ready for the day at my house, so my pj's don't ever stay over at D&N's house.

Not wanting to round up the animals - that being quite the task - and going back to my house to get my pj's I decided to explore my options and see what D&N had as far as pj's. It didn't take too long to find and I didn't have too much trouble picking out some pj's. Of course, they were like three times my size, but that just brought added comfort and freedom to me. They were quite comfortable to sleep in actually and have decided to wear them every night instead of having to remember to bring my own over. Thanks D&N!

I have had some interesting dreams lately. Some of them have been so weird that I don't understand them and kind of brush them aside. I always remember my dreams and a lot of the time I can figure them out. I had a very interesting dreams last night about bears. I actually have had a couple about bears recently. Odd. I also had an interesting experience while sleeping last night too. For some reason I haven't been able to sleep well for a period of time now. I often wake up several times throughout the night and every morning my body wakes up at 6:00A on the dot for some reason, no matter how tired I am and no matter how late I went to bed.

I was pretty tired last night and fell asleep just shortly after 10:00P. I woke at 1:10A, but rolled over and went back to sleep. Then I had an interesting experience. I dreamt that I received a phone call on my cell phone. Instead of a name or number showing up to indicate who was calling me a yellow triangle with an ! icon came up. In my dream that made sense - it was somebody calling me that had a blocked number. Usually I don't answer unidentified callers, but for some reason I did this time. I answered, "Hello?" The voice on the other end was a familiar voice that I recognized immediately, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!" The voice was so audible to me, like that person was standing next to my bed greeting me to this new day with an ethusiastic "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!" Because it was so real and because my excitement was so great when hearing this voice it woke me up. The clock read 4:01A. I was wide awake.

When I woke up I looked around the room to see if anybody else was in there because I could have sworn that the voice I heard was real and wasn't just in my dreams; like I had one of those experiences where the noises surrounding you as you slept became apart of your dream - the noises were real and the dream only gave place to those sounds. But I didn't find anybody in my bedroom greeting me. I laid there and pondered about what had just happened and then wondered what to do since I was wide awake at 4:00A. I was eventually able to fall back asleep for a few more hours.

My plans were to again go to Idaho Falls to hit up some back roads on my bike, but the weather has turned a little icky. I thought about challenging myself against the wind on a bike ride out to the sand dunes, but when I looked up the weather and saw the wind blowing at about 20mph I decided my attempts would be in vain. My average speed on my bike is anywhere between 18-24mph. I don't think I'd get very far in a good amount of time if I were to attempt my battle against the wind. Some days you just have to acknowledge that Mother Nature is more powerful.

So, plan B: Relax with a book and maybe run a few laps around a nearby park.

Oh Happy Day!

My favorite day out of each month - the 6th! It's Hug A Tree Day!!

BBP, BFF F&FA!!

The Wheels In My Head

A couple weeks ago my mind started pondering upon a number of different thoughts, ideas, and questions. It has taken me these couple weeks for me to finally start processing and allowing these thoughts, ideas, and questions to sink in. They span over a number of different topics in which I will categorize below.

But before I begin I wanted to share an experience that just happened. This morning was one of those days that I woke up, and as somebody discriptively once said, "having to acknowledge that I was going through another one of my empty days of nothing to do and no one to see. My depression had already won a battle I didn't have the will to fight." But I got up only because of Cooper's whining, indicating that he had to use the bathroom. Being up I decided to get started with the day instead of dragging my feet. I went through my normal morning tasks of prayer, scripture study, (coming back to my house) and then getting ready for the day, with breakfast falling somewhere in there. My scripture study wasn't as filling as I had hoped, wanted, or prayed for - the reasons for that being my own doing....or I should say not doing what I have been prompted and challenged to do. But that's a whole different story.

After my daily morning tasks I put in some time for work, but was finished with those duties fairly quickly. Despite all of my morning activities I was still feeling down in the dumps. The depression I felt was slowly increasing as the day progressed. By noon I was tired and ready to take a nap and sleep the day away, but I fought against that depression trap. The thought of a bike ride lingered in my mind, but the motivation, or rather the lack of it was holding me back. But wanting to kick these feelings of depression outweighed the lack of motivation I had so I rolled up my right pant leg and hopped on my bike.

This bike ride wasn't any long hard core ride, but just a leisure ride to help myself get in the warm rays of the shining sun and to get out doing something that I enjoyed doing. I casually made my way to the nature park and rode along the different paths several times before starting to make my way home, feeling only somewhat better than before I started. As I was nearing one of the last turns I needed to make before having a straight shot to my housing complex, I heard somebody behind me call out my name. Very perplexed at who in the world it could be I turned to look back over my right shoulder from where the voice came and an old friend from Greenbrier came into view, Chapan. He was on his road bike, saw me cross an intersection, and then came chasing after me. He was decked out in his biking gear on a cruise between his classes.

He checked out my bike and his approval was very pleasing to me - he's hard core into road biking. As we rode side by side he gave a ton of pointers and educated me a lot on road biking. This is a new sport that I am getting into and don't know much about, so his knowledge is greatly beneficial. I found out that he works at Bill's bike shop, which is down the road from Alpine (the bike shop that I usually go to), but interestingly enough both shops are owned by the same guy. Chapan offered a few suggestions for my bike in order to make my ride a bit more comfortable and fitting to my body type. He also told me about rides Bill's bike shop puts on as well as his personal routes - even one to Idaho Falls, which I hope to do.

Him spotting and catching up to me this afternoon as I was out on my leisure ride was a blessing. He helped take my mind off matters for a time that are weighing heavy on my heart and enlightened me a little bit in the mean time. I am still fighting those depressive feelings, but sometimes we just have days like today and you just got to hold on til the end - even though holding on and having the desire to hold on is hard. Extremely hard.

Lessons on Fasting & Praying (click here to read original post)

This is in continuation of my thoughts from my April posting on Fasting and Praying.

I had previously talked about how fasting - going without food - became so much more of a sacrifice to me than it had ever been. I wanted to give up food because the reasons for my fasting meant so much to me, more than food. The meaning of sacrifice increased for me and it become more of a desire than an annoyance. This brought my fasting to a new level for me.

Another thought that came to me was the scripture that is found in the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine & Covenants which says, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matt 6: 25, 31). As I pondered this scripture in my fast I realized that I was so focused on the meaning of my fast that I didn't take thought of what I should eat or drink after my fast was concluded. Usually I am coming up with all sorts of ideas and things I can make at the end of my fast and have seen the food as a reward of completing the task of fasting.

My focus was all wrong before. First of all, it was actually really nice not to have those thoughts on food. It not only made my stomach happy because I wasn't taunting it, but it allowed my thoughts to be more focused, which added so much more meaning to the fast. Second, food isn't a reward for fasting. That line of thinking is way out of the ball park. I don't like the word reward. In fasting we pray and hope for specific things and when/if those things come to pass we should be humbled in gratitude that the Lord heard and answered our fasting and prayers. I guess you could say that the answered prayers and fasting is a reward, but I like to see it as a tender mercy, a blessing. In this life we don't deserve anything. We can't expect to deserve anything. All that is given to us is in the grace and mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Without Them we are nothing and so it is through Them that we receive all things.

These inspiring thoughts have increased my desire to have more sincere and less distracting fasts. It has given me the desire to make each and every fast have a deeper commitment and a more pure sacrifice to the things I am praying and fasting for.

Is This Who I Am? Really?

With thoughts lingering in my head from last week about accepting myself, I came to a point this past week where I asked myself aloud, "Is this who I really am?" My mind began rushing as thoughts and deeper questions flashed in my mind. Memories of my entire life shot through my head of events or things that have happened that have built some of the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses I possess. Then thoughts of individuals that have influenced and shaped who I am today came flooding in my mind. The decisions I've made that have impacted my life. The experiences that I've had that have changed me for good or for worse. My beliefs that have formed my moral code that I strive to live by. All these and more have made up who I am today.

"Is this who I really am? Is this who I want to be? Am I happy with who I am? There are so many things to change; where do I start? How do I even begin? Where do I want to be? Who do I want to be? What is my divine potential? How can I get there? Is it even possible? When all is said and done, is this who I really am and want to be?"

My first intial thought to these questions was, "Can I run!?! Can a mountain tumble on top of me like it says in the scriptures? I want to run!!" I even came close to following through with this desire. I was ready to run and just fade away. The ironic thing about these feelings is that no matter where I go, I will always be with me. There is no running away from me because I'm always with me. As silly as that sounds, I think we all have times when we just want to run and run and run and never stop running and never look back. But not matter how many steps you take in your running or how far you travel while running, you will always be right where you left off.

In trying to answer some of the above questions, for the most part I wasn't happy with my answers. They were disappointing and depressing because right now in my life I am not who I want to be. Like I said, I wanted to run. And run fast! But the realization came to me in the midst of these sobering thoughts was that even though I am not the person I want to be right now, I still have to accept myself as that person, and then rely wholly on the atonement of Jesus Christ to change me as I work to become the person I want to be; as I strive to fulfill my divine potential as much as possible on this earth.

The hard part of it is accepting myself for who I am right now this very minute. It's hard because I don't want to accept myself this way, but then the question comes to mind "when will you accept yourself? What is "this way" and will you ever find yourself there or will you still be wishing upon some other "this way"?" Without accepting myself for who I am right now and from moment to moment I can't be me. Rather I am me pretending to be somebody or something else. Heavenly Father wants me to be me. He created me. He didn't create me so I could be somebody or something else. He has a divine plan for me - not me being somebody or something else.

So....................................

How does one accept his or herself? How do we come to terms or to grips with who we are? How do we accept all the icky things we don't like about ourselves on the inside and on the outside? How do we accept the yucky things and still focus on or even recognize the good things about ourselves that we like in order to find balance? How do we gain the vision of our potential, coupled with the knowledge that we really can become that person?

As a possible answer to these questions or at least the first step in accepting oneself, somebody recently said, which I thought was profound is, "it is actually turning and confronting [who I am] that the strength I need comes." Imagine that! Doing the exact opposite of the initial desire to run. Well, you might ask, "how does the strength come?" That is where the atonement, I believe, comes in. As you turn to confront who you are and accept every folly, weakness, insecurity, pimple, freckle, bodily disorder, everything, you are in fact turning to the Lord because He is your source of strength. He can give you the strength you need to do everything possible to accept who you are and how you have become that person. This may entail a lot of realization and pain as you step back in your past, and it may involve a lot of forgiveness as well. But as you open your heart and let it all in, the source of all our strength, as we walk the journey of accepting ourselves, will never leave us. He is constant and He is sure.

It's hard work; it's harder than it sounds. But I believe that once we can accept ourself and continue to accept ourself we then are given freedom, confidence, and a greater desire to live the way the Lord sees us - our divine potential.

Now for the hard part...............................

Ripples In The Water

In the church we are taught about agency and consequences. We learn that we are free to choose, but no matter what that choice is there is always a consequcence whether good or bad, and we can never choose the consequence(s) that follow. This principle was even further drilled into me as I worked at Anasazi where I was surrounded by the natural consequences from decisions I made and more especially from the decision the kids going through the program made. I feel like I have had quite the experience and knowledge in choices and consequences for we practically lived and breathed it on the trail as we tried to help the kids understand this law and apply it into their own life on and off the trail.

There were even moments in talking with these kids about this subject when I thought, "Can't you see how your ONE decision has affected sooooo many people? Can't you see that?!" I've been trying to swallow that pill for the last 9 months now. I have realized that MY ONE decision has affected what seems like an almost innumerable amount of people and things. We can't choose our consequences.

Our decisions are like a pebble being dropped in the water and the ripples are the affects of our decisions. They ripple outward until they reach the shoreline where they then fade and disappear. We have no control over how many ripples will come from our decisions and we have no way to stop the ripples. And there is never just one ripple.

As my decisions over the last 9 months or so have hit the water, it has had a shattering effect upon my heart. It has greatly effected my relationships, my friendships, my job, my education, and living situation, my testimony, my future, my core....the list could go on and on. But what is more heart wrenching to me is the effects this decision has had on other people, particulary the one who received the greatest impact of my decision. My heart will forever be sorrowful to this person for my decisions and actions and the consequences that have come because of me.

I have stood and watched in horror, sorrow, and pain with a broken heart and a sea of tears the effects the ripples of my decisions have had on other people. After 9 months I feel like the first, outside ripple is just beginning to come close to the shoreline, yet there are many ripples behind the first that still are having an effect on others, which I must watch and feel as they too make their course to the shoreline. I often wonder if the ripples will end? I know for the most part they will, but there will be lifetime ripples.

After 9 months I am starting to feel like I have the strength to start picking up the pieces to my shattered heart and world one by one, and seeking for that one piece to be cleansed in the proper way so I can once again put these pieces back together and be whole again; to be alive again. My heart is deep in sorrow for each person this decision has reached and effected, both alive and dead. I am immensely grateful for the patience, forgiveness, support, teaching and love that has been extended towards me in this time by family, friends, church leaders, strangers, and humbly even from the one I hurt the most; words can't describe my gratitude.

The ripples have yet to reach the shore and my heart has yet to become whole again. This will take time as I allow the atonement to work in my life. But I hope and pray that this time will provide healing for me, for others, and especially for the one who's life and heart I too have shattered.

And So It Begins......

Last night was the first night of my two weeks stay at Destin & Nate's house, friends from my now ward (branch was changed into a ward yesterday!) whom I am house sitting for. D&N own and operate two natural health clinics, one in Rexburg ID and the other in Roosevelt UT. D&N's previous visits down to UT my best friend Angie would house sit for them and I would stay with her and help out. This is how I got introduced to D&N and conned into house sitting for them now since Angie has moved to a different city.

House sitting doesn't seem that bad when you think about it, but it's when you throw in all the other factors that make it an interesting experience. These other factors include one rambunctious dog, two cats, (who more than not act like little kids by pushing theirs and your limits!) and lots and lots of plants! (Nate graduated in horticulture). I have found house sitting a lot more pleasant when there are two people there; there are four sets of eyes watching the animals instead of two and the tasks involved in house sitting are easier accomplished when you have another set of hands. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just finding the stark realities and differences between house sitting alone vs. house sitting with somebody else.

D&N's house isn't huge, but it is a large house and being alone in a large house - or just being alone in general - can and is quite lonely and can gnaw at my inklings of depression. Knowing this and in preparation to house sitting I have come up with activities that I would like to do that will get me out of the house and enjoying the outside sun and nature. (These are in order of happenings).

1. Take Cooper (the dog) out to the greenbelt in Idaho Falls one afternoon for a nice stroll andt o feed the ducks (before Wednesday). This is something that I have been wanting to do for some time now, plus Cooper has never been. Perfect combo.
2. Hit some back roads and hills in Idaho Falls on my mtn. bike beginning at the only back road spot I know of down 17th St., in the afternoon mid-week. (I was Idaho Falls yesterday and came across a dirt road that looked like a pretty sweet trail to follow!)
3. Bike/run (prob bike :) around the greenbelt in Idaho Falls one afternoon, post mid-week. And maybe just sit on a bench and read (depending on Mother Nature).

This is the beginning of my list of things I would like to do this week. It's as far as I have gotten as of yet. More ideas from anybody would be much obliged. My activities center around Idaho Falls a lot this week because I will be making trips down there anyway for different things. Might as well make the most out of the trip! And a plus, Nate left his car for me to drive too! Save a bucks on gas - I'm liking this.

I am hoping to get Cooper out as much as possible, even if it's just a little walk each day. He uses all of his pent up energy attack and dog-handeling the cats. He's an outside dog who spends too much time inside. Poor guy. I am looking forward to just getting out myself and not staying cooped up in the house as well.

Nights at the house are another story. Again, I'm alone and it's a large house. Sometimes I let my mind and imagination get the best of me, which is rooted in previous scary experiences as well as the more recent one of my evil dream. Another plus to house sitting with another person. But I know my limits and boundaries - half the battle in not allowing myself to go there - and I know that prayer really works and that I also need to be doing my part in order to have access to the Lord's blessings in my life. Sometimes....it's just a little scary at night.

All in all, I'm in for some adventures over the next two weeks and am having a positive attitude about it trying to learn the most I can, esp. since it's a one woman show this time.