I only laugh to keep from weeping

Okay so laughter is good for you especially when you are having some major trials and tribulations. Here is a little laugh for you from Brian Regan.

My Pappaw

There's nothing up there yet but my Pappaw has a website now where you can get updates on him. You will have to register to see it but if you go here you can also leave little notes for him on his message board. As long as we can keep it updated it should be very helpful in getting word out better about his current treatments or whatnot.

randomness

I just realized that three of my last posts all had exactly three exclamation points at the end of them...weird...

We had a fairly quiet Easter in that it didn't seem overly stressful (after we were dressed that is). It started with Sunday School:


Then morning service:


And then to Pappaw's office where they have a pond and ducks (and a swan!). We fed them popcorn and old bread and paused for yet another picture.


Then we headed off to the Fessendens for some volleyball and marshmallows. It was fun! Thankfully we didn't take ANOTHER family picture. ;-)

HE IS RISEN.

Windows Vista--it's the end of the world!!!

Okay does anyone else remember what it was like when Windows XP came out? The first group ran out and bought it, installed it, and promptly found a few bugs. They all started screaming that XP was ridiculous, don't buy it, it would destroy your computer. I've discovered this is a vicious cycle that attacks every Windows product.

Case in point: I heard from many who got Vista in the beginning and said it had some bugs. That's fine and to be expected, and so a year later when I bought my laptop with Vista I was fully prepared to out and buy a copy of XP (amazing now it is okay with everyone despite the whole SP 2 ordeal) if I couldn't deal with the supposedly horrendous Vista. Amazingly enough since I've had Vista I've grown to like it quite well. Now I still don't know quite where everything is and all but it isn't really the bug ridden disaster people would have you think it is. As part of my job I read through reviews all the time for companies like Best Buy and Dell and do you know that 90% of the reviews for new laptops say "I LOVE my laptop except for VISTA it STINKS", "If you can avoid Vista do it!!!" and the like. Do you know what I've decided it is? People don't like change. They all got used to XP and now don't want to change to something new. It could be quite daunting I'm sure for someone quite comfortable with XP (like myself) to then try to learn Vista, but I'm sure it can't be any crazier of a difference than it was to learn XP after Windows 98 (which people seem to have done quite well) or to even learn 98 after 3.1 (I think that was the last one but forgive me as I was quite young back then haha).

So if you are one of those people who likes to scare everyone with horror stories about Vista--it's really going to be okay. Vista will not be the downfall of computer users everywhere. We simply learn to use the software and then discover it really is better than XP in some ways. Otherwise they wouldn't have spent all the time and money to create it would they? I personally rather like my Vista and if we can just get some of these compatibility issues fixed with other programs then I could be perfectly happy. Oh and the compatibility wizard is my best friend!!

But underneath this I did find a spiritual application. Change is a universal "problem". Everyone has to deal with change in their spiritual lives, families, friends, jobs...if nothing ever changed, we wouldn't ever get better. We would be a stagnant, stinking puddle of water. I would rather be a pretty little creek. Change is not always easy, nor is it what we want at the time. But it always makes you stronger for having been through the experience. Not that Vista will make you a better Christian. ;)

haircuts!!!

I'm not sure what the science is behind the clipping of hair lifting your mood but I do know it helps somehow. Today we got our haircuts and Savanna got quite a bit of length off and some cute layers. I wouldn't say that it completely cures what ails you but it makes me feel a little better...like the sun almost peeked out through the storm.

I'm an aunt!!!

Hahaha all of you are wondering now if I have some long-lost older sibling...okay so I'm not a blood aunt but might as well be. My dear friend Grace who has been my friend since probably before we were born had her precious baby Hannah Faith two weeks ago. I just now got some pictures!! I am hoping to go see her soon but I have to show her off. She was born March 3rd, weighed 7lbs and 2oz and was 20 1/4 in. long.

EDIT: Grace has informed me they plan on calling her Faith.

my weekend

Well my company is in transition now from one method of scheduling to a new one and my hours are a little different. Everything didn't change over at the same time though so I am effectively working lots of extra hours. For example on Thursday I clocked 14 hours (and some odd minutes). Thankfully I didn't do this all at the same time but it was pretty crazy...it does count the three and a half hours I worked from 12-3:30 AM that morning plus the 12ish hours from noon to midnight. So basically I went to sleep after one shift, and got up in time to start working again and didn't go to bed until after 12 AM Friday. That day will repeat itself this Tuesday and possibly Thursday, I can't remember exactly which day the other server changes over. Not my idea of fun. (However the paycheck will be fun to spend! or at least make a sizeable chunk in my newly established first-car-fund.)

So after all that work on Thursday was I ever ready for a break!! I am always ready for a break by the time Thursday is over with but as you can understand I was quite happy to see Friday come around. Mom, Savanna and I took Joshua, Josiah, Emma, Reuben, and Joel to the Livestock Show!! It was just as much fun as I remembered. Joel wasn't quite sure if he really wanted to pet the goats (not even the babies) but I eventually convinced him to touch it really quickly. He did warm up by the time we got to the rabbits and definitely enjoyed those!! There was also this nifty little group called The Biscuit Brothers. They were quite a hoot and the kids loved them. They have a TV show on PBS (the Houston channel apparently decided they didn't like them and haven't been playing them but if enough people call and complain they might put them back on) and are way better than The Wiggles!! They teach kids about music, things like tempo and dynamics and have some pretty fun traditional kiddie songs done with a guitar, banjo, bass and drums. Joel wasn't participating so I was moving his hands for him and helping him clap. At one point I decided to stop since he didn't seem to be interested but I noticed after a moment his little hands slid up under mine and he lifted them (trying to tell me to continue). So on we went! It was really hard sometimes because they got fast and you had to clap, slap your leg, and do some funny motions in a short period of time and it was really hard for me to translate into making his hands do it but oh well, we had fun!!

That was quite exhausting and I worked late Friday night/Saturday morning. Got up, worked some more (I'm telling you I'm going to be rejecting reviews in my sleep) and went off to ensemble practice and then to spend the night with Erin while she house-sat. Well it was more like dog-sat. We watched "The Holiday" again (that is becoming our movie for some reason), talked a little and went to bed. We are becoming quite boring. There was a time when we probably would have watched two movies at least and talked until 5 AM but since I was so tired from working and had to go to church, and she was plenty tired from her crazy week I think we were both ready for bed before we even watched one!

So here I am now, it is Sunday night and I have MORE work (I officially hate Walmart reviews...oh wait I said that in January...) and I was falling asleep during family devotions. And off to another craaaazy week...

I am trying out a new format for my blogging. I didn't like Facebook's setup for blogging and this feels like it has more freedom than Xanga--it is almost like having my own website and you don't have to be a member of anything to see it. This will have downsides like privacy (I will have to be more careful about personal details) but I think I'd like to try it. We'll see how it goes!!