mold and leviticus

Michael and I have mold at the St. Johns house. I've been praying about the house, about what we're suppose to do with it. A few nights again Michael and I read out of Leviticus, the book in the Bible, for our Bible Study. Here's what it says: 

 ³³ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ³⁴ "When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in that land, ³⁵ the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, 'I have seen something that looks like mildew in my house.' ³⁶ The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. ³⁷ He is to examine the mildew on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, ³⁸ the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls, ⁴⁰ he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. ⁴¹ He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. ⁴² Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.

 ⁴³ "If the mildew reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, ⁴⁴ the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ It must be torn down—its stones, timbers and all the plaster—and taken out of the town to an unclean place.

 ⁴⁶ "Anyone who goes into the house while it is closed up will be unclean till evening. ⁴⁷Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash his clothes.

 ⁴⁸ "But if the priest comes to examine it and the mildew has not spread after the house has been plastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the mildew is gone. ⁴⁹ To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. ⁵⁰ He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁵¹ Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He shall purify the house with the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean."

Weird huh? Don't worry, we won't be killing doves anytime soon. I just thought it was funny that I found a whole process of how to get rid of mold for our house in our Bible Study. I really cannot imagine asking the senior pastor of our church to do this, so it kind of made me laugh, a little and then worry that I was going straight to hell for laughing at the Bible. 

Ba-Bye Prosperity

This is from the front page of the Wall Street Journal Today:

President Barack Obama delivered a $3.6 trillion budget blueprint to Congress Thursday that aims to "break from a troubled past," with expanded government activism, tax increases on affluent families and businesses, and spending cuts targeted at those he says profited from "an era of profound irresponsibility."

One war would end, as troops leave Iraq, while another would ramp up in Afghanistan. To fund it all, families earning over $250,000 and a variety of businesses will pay a steep price, but Mr. Obama implored Americans to own up to the mistakes of the past while accepting profound sacrifices.

As expected, taxes will rise for singles earning $200,000 and couples earning $250,000, beginning in 2011 -- for a total windfall of $656 billion over 10 years. Income tax hikes would raise $339 billion alone. Limits on personal exemptions and itemized deductions would bring in another $180 billion. Higher capital gains rates would bring in $118 billion. The estate tax, scheduled to be repealed next year, would instead be preserved, with the value of estates over $3.5 million -- $7 million for couples -- taxed at 45%.

I can understand the initial thought that affluent Americans are the answer to our deficit but I think a longer look at the what that means produces a greater American hope: the wealthy should be free to be wealthy and do what they want with their money. Our whole American culture is based on a dream that we live in a land where we are free to make money for ourselves and our families. The wealthy should be taxed, just like every legal American is, but they should not be steeped with a greater percentage of the bill just because they have the money.

By placing greater taxes on those who make over $200,000 (singles) and $250,000 (couples) the government is encouraging its citizens to not make over that dollar amount. If someone makes over that dollar amount, they will have less take home pay because they will be taxed heavier. When a government encourages its citizens to stay below a certain dream of wealth, it’s really encouraging a nation to not prosper. Seriously, where do we live, Russia? (Sorry- I had to put that in for my husband, who is always saying that we live in Russia.)

I don’t make near that kind of money, but I want to hope that if I did, I could do what I want with it. If I want to give it all to the poor, that’s great, but it should be my decision to make. If I want to purchase an island and move there to live, I should be able to do that. I don’t think the rich have more rights than anyone else, I just think that they have the right to spend the money that they make how they want (after a fair amount of taxes just like everyone else). I want to be able to make money here, in America, without being penalized for making money and for fulfilling the American dream.  

My left kidney feels a little funny

Right in the spot where my left kidney is I feel something moving around. Maybe it’s my twin or something. Ever since I saw the foot come out of a brain on the Today Show, I think anything is possible. Anyway, given that it is probably not my twin, I am wondering what the heck is going on. I don’t have any pain from it and there’s nothing going on with my bladder or anything from that.

It’s like my left kidney is literally squeezing something thru it. It’s really weird. I would probably be more freaked out, but it doesn’t hurt, it just feels kinda like when your stomach growls or something. You just feel it and know what’s going on. It’s uncomfortable at times and I think it’s making my back tense because my back is tired, but something is definitely going on under my left rib cage in the back.

I don’t really know what to do. I guess I could go to the doctor, but it’s not causing me much pain and if it was a kidney stone, they don’t do much for those anyway, just tell you to drink water and take meds. I’m drinking water and have several strong meds at home if needed from when I hurt my neck while I was asleep.

So I’m living with it. I don’t like standing for a long time, maybe since we were standing all weekend at our sale, it got irritated or something, but seriously a kidney irritated from standing? I can’t handle any more injuries that occur while I am asleep or standing. Good gracious, I might as well ski. Anyway, I’m glad I’m married to an EMT. It’s good to have someone around who is trained with how to keep me alive when things go wrong. It’s one of the many reasons why I love my husband and am glad to be married to him.

we had a great sale

We really had a fantastic weekend with our sale. We were constantly busy. At one point we had a line 20 people thick and it was just Michael and I working the transactions. The line was big at that time because Michael and I were each working with customers who were buying over 50 movies each!! A couple people bought 100 movies, but most people bought about 10-25. 

We are so grateful for many things this weekend. We really feel blessed. It didn't rain until 2:00 pm on Sunday which is when we were closing, which was huge! We had printed signed and put them on the cars and didn't want the ink to run in the rain and we had so many people, the line was outside the garage and so all of the people plus all the movies they were buying would have gotten wet. Also, we didn't have any wind these two days which was a another huge blessing!! Each movie had a slip in it with a barcode. We had to take out the slips and scan them, so at any given time there were dozens of slips all across our table, which is why we praise God that there was no wind!

After all was said and done, we sold over 1,000 DVD's and we made over $2,500!! It was a huge weekend for us and we are very grateful for the many blessing we found in it. Thank you for all who stopped by and bought and chatted. 

We're selling DVD's and Video Games!!!

As many of you know, Michael owned and operated Winning Edge Video in Cle Elum, Washington until he married me and closed it in the summer of 2007. He did quite well with the video store (even put competitors out of business) and now we own 4,000 DVD's and several hundred video games for the playstation, Xbox, Gamecube and the regular nintendo and playstation.

 

We are having a major liquidation for family and friends on this Saturday, February 21 at our house from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm. We will have all of our previous viewed movies for sale for $2-$5. 

 

Come on by and check it out! It's gonna be a great time!!

skiing is kind of like hell to me

I don't like to ski. I feel kind of like I should because it makes sense that it would be something one would enjoy. Going down thru fresh powder with the sun in your face enjoying the speed and having a good time. But to me, it's just hell. No matter how many times I tell my body to go a certain way on the skis, my body does not respond to what my brain is telling it and it often does something else which usually just leaves me frustrated and in pain. 

I think that there are things that some of us just can't do that seem simple to other people. (I can easily keep my house orderly, but not everyone can do that.) I don't think that just because we can't do something that everyone else seems to be able to do makes us a bad person, we just aren't programmed to do everything and all of us have different skills and abilities. I know that I should be able to improve my skiing ability with more practice, but honestly the next person that tells me that I want to punch. I have tried and tried and tried and I can't get it and quite frankly don't feel like I should and now just don't want to. I'd rather be doing anything that skiing. I'd rather be organizing my kitchen then skiing. 

I realized today that I have never liked recreation activities. I like people who like recreation activities, but I just don't prefer to spend my time doing that. I would pretty much rather be doing anything else. I have never enjoyed hiking, I hate white water rafting, I don't like competitive sports. I don't mind a simple game of kick ball sometimes but that is about it. I also want to reiterate that I LOVE people who enjoy these things, I just don't enjoy the things like they do. 

I've been reading the book - The Search for Significance- and I've realized that I only do recreation activities to win the approval of others (because every other person on the planet seems to enjoy them) or I only do them to get better and to prove that I can perform. I have never done one sport or recreation activity for my own enjoyment, ever. 

I enjoy watching a good movie or reading a good book, or driving in my convertible (that's outside, does it count as a recreation?), or going for a walk or picking fruit or growing a vegetable garden or walking my cat (yes, it's true, I have a leash and everything), or talking with my husband, or writing or painting or making dinner or hanging with friends. It's not that I won't ski or do something recreation, I don't mind doing it occasionally. It's just that it's not something that I feel I need to do nor do I want to do. I just feel this obligation to do it because of how much other people seem to enjoy it and the pressure that they and I put on myself to do it. 

So, I'm dealing with this question- does it make me weird to not like recreation activities? I kinda feel like it does but I just have comes to terms with the fact that I hate them. I think I really just dislike recreation activities but my dislike has grown to hate because I have not been able to stand up to the pressure to do them and now with everyone saying that I just need to stick with something (like skiing) has turned my dislike to hate. 

I don't want to make make a big deal about it. People who continually ask me about a certain recreation activity aren't trying t pressure me, they're just trying to share with me something that they enjoy which I can appreciate. I try and share stuff with other people that I enjoy hoping that they would enjoy it too. I've just accepted that I don't enjoy recreation stuff. It doesn't mean that I won't ever do anything recreational again, it just means that I've finally accepted that it's just not me and that is OK. I do other things. 

i understand why it was called the great depression

Life is so depressing these days. I log into cnn everyday and the headlines are so awful. 2 days ago I read about the puppies they are having to shoot in Iraq because of how diseased they are. Yesterday the plane crash was awful. I think that was yesterday. I don't remember exactly because everyday it seems to get worse. Just the news alone that 1 in 10 Americans are without a job and the forecloses are just getting worse. My friend in San Diego has made her house payment every month and when she went to seek help from one of the agencies who are helping people with payments, they told her to miss 3 months of payments and then come back. She said she can make her payments, she'd just like to try and get them reduced because the price of everything has gone up and they told her it doesn't matter. They can't help her until she misses more than 2 payments in a row. 

It's really depressing out there. All of the headlines point to doom and gloom and there's not a lot of things that people can do about it. I certainly don't feel like I have much power to stop these awful things and that's just all the more depressing. 

I long so much for hope these days. I think that's one of the reasons why I am in love the flight that landed safely on the water in the hudson. It was a the type of miracle that my soul was looking for. Something that could fill me with hope that sometimes good things do happen in the world by regular folks who, just by doing their jobs, make the world a better place.

I have a couple jobs that I do in my small world. I work at American Industries. I love my husband. I go to church. I email friends. I make quilts. I blog. These things are so small and don't do much for the rest of the world but they're part of my job here and I enjoy doing them. They keep me from sinking into a depression that the headlines of our times can give someone. 

These times have put my mind and heart on constant search for something to believe in, something that tells me that we will have a better future than what we are experiencing right now. I think it's out there. I see it when my husband smiles at me and when we laugh over something funny at the office. I see it when my cat rubs on my leg and looks up at me. I see it when I hear about the stories from the pilots who landed the plane on the hudson. I see it when I see my friend Laura and how she is preparing for her new baby. There's hope out there; hope that can overflow our soul and give us love for others in these days that are hard.

email drama

I have this old email address that I love, the staciavontastic one. I've been thinking about how much I'd rather use that email address instead of the michaelandstaceygraves one. I have lots of reasons but I think basically I want my name to be at the front for people to know that when they email that email address, it comes to me. I'd also like for the email address of michaelandstaceygraves address to both micheal and i. So for things like church and sign ups and stuff, we can list our married email address and both see the emails and then for all my personal emails it would just go to me.

You'd think this would be easy but first I need to let everyone know about the change which is rather easy. People are pretty good these days with changing email addresses and most of my friends already know the old address, but then there's this blog. This blog is linked to my michaelandstaceygraves email address and won't let me change it meaning that i have to be signed in at that account to access this blog. I'm trying to have my main account be the stacaivontastic account but to log in and out of sign ins for different email verses blog is dumb. So, i have yet figured out what I am going to do. I'll keep you posted. 

life groups online

This Wednesday I'm joining life group online. It's a group of people with web cams who study a book together and then are all online and video feed their conversations. I totally don't know what I'm doing but am looking forward to seeing how the group goes! The book that they are doing right now is The Search for Significance. We use the webcam program Tokbox. I set up an account and had a good time playing around with it. 

food

I have a long, deep relationship with food and it’s time to move on. Obviously I have to still eat, but for me food has been more than just eating. It has been a relationship that always likes me, never makes me feel rejected, and usually leaves me feeling pretty good. David once said that food is my god. I think he is right.

I can resist a lot of temptation, not because I am a good person but because I am stubborn. Food on the other hand, I cannot resist. I think it’s because I have to eat and therefore, cannot ban it completely from me.

I don’t feel condemned for constantly overeating or constantly eating junk food instead of a meal. I just feel it’s time to move on. I have lived this way for to long and I am braking up with food. I am just done. I knew I was done when I realized last night that I don’t even care of my brake up allows me to gain weight.

I don’t know what I am going to do differently and quite honestly, I don’t know if I can do anything differently because as in any relationship it just takes time to move on and because food is everywhere, the temptation to eat poorly is going to be too large to resist a lot of the time.

I don’t care how this happens. I am willing to try anything to get out of this relationship. I want my thoughts to revolve around others and I want my focus to be on relationships instead of constantly on food. I’m tired of it.

I am going to pray that I let go of the food god. I don’t know what will happen. I might gain weight or loose weight or stay the same. I don’t care. I just don’t want to bow down any longer to food. I long for self control and in this country, we are constantly around food, which challenges me.

So, I am going to write a message to food on my blog so that all can see.

Food, you are here to serve me so that I can grow strong and healthy. I was not put here to serve you. I am not going to be serving you any more. You need to find a new master. I am moving on because there is a whole life out there that does not constantly revolve around you. Good-bye. 

hope

I heard from a speaker tonight that really rocked my world. She was diagnosed medically with Schizoaffective Disorder and she was sane. She could keep a job, could independently stay on her medication, and had a very fulfilling normal life. I have never heard of a complete success story of a mentally ill patient. 

She was so badly mentally ill that without her meds she is completely psychotic. She had dramatic hallucinations and had been hospitalized many, many times. She had gone thru several misdiagnoses in her life and about 14 years ago finally started taking the right pills for her mental illness. She now goes around sharing her story about what it is like to be mentally ill and hopes that her story will give others hope. The thought that the woman in front of me, someone who looked put together, had a sense of humor, and was working a normal 40 hour a week job, was cured of her illness thru medicine was overwhelming. I have never heard a success story before like hers.

When you live with someone who is mentally ill (as I did growing up) you learn how to cope with it, you learn how to survive around it and you usually learn not to talk about it. I think it's important to talk about it and it's important to hear other people's story's about what they are going thru in life with their families. It helps and it gives others hope. I am really grateful for this woman.

One of the questions she had posed on herself for years was- Does God want me to go on medication? Her answer was "I can't serve Him very well being psychotic. " We all laughed. I've been living with not very much hope for my dad and although I am still very cautious, this woman tonight gave me a huge sense of hope. 

the shocking economy

Well, the economy has finally hit Michael and I. No, not in our jobs (we still have them- thankfully). No, not in our spending (we still buy everything with cash). It's hit us in our laundry room. 

A few weeks ago at Costco, we decided to make a purchase. The item was significantly less than the other items around it and we thought we should be extra wise with our finances because of the economy, so we did it and we bought non-brand dryer sheets. 

Now that might not sound so bad, but the week after I used them, I was shocking everything I touched- people, Hester, the house, the car, things at the office. I could visually see the static electricity transferring from me to others things. Sometimes, like when I go to switch the light on, the electricity goes to the little nail below the switch before I even make contact. 

The following week I started using 3 dryer sheets per load. I'm up to 5 per load now and although I still get electrocuted every time I go to flip the light switch, it's seem like that is the only thing that I am currently shocking. 

We do about 3 loads of laundry a week. I have 500 non-name brand dryer sheets. It's going to take me 166 weeks or 3.2 years to use all of the dryer sheets. Crap. I just shocked something else.