Just thought you’d like to know.

It’s been a ZANY week. I’m still learning how to fit blogging in to a graduate school schedule. We’ll hopefully remedy this issue soon and very soon.

Until then, have a great “holiday” weekend. (A little genius word play lead-in to the Shane and Shane video featuring my FAVORITE song off their new album “Pages”.)

Yes, it is 6:34am. And yes, I am going to be late to work.

I’m Annie.

I’m the eldest daughter of a really good CPA.

And I’m addicted to being financially organized.

Here’s something funny I forgot about myself until this week, when I began grad school at KSU: When I have something to do (i.e- read 6 chapters in 2 books and write a 2 page paper), I remember a lot of things that need to get done around the house in order to be better organized. And those things feel far more pressing than the actual school work that is due this week.

So I just spent the last 115 minutes (literally) doing the following activities:

- Balancing my checkbook to the PENNY. Every time. Without fail. And if I’m off 5 cents or $5, I keep going back until I fix it. It can take, and has taken in the past, upwards of an hour. Today it was only about 25 minutes.

- Paying the bills.

- Making new folders on my hotmail email account. Instead of having one “bills” folder, I think it will be more useful to have one for each bill that I pay online.

- Putting the correct emails in each folder.

- Completing my Microsoft Excel file for July and August that contains the cost of each bill per month and the total each month. This way, I am able to compare the same month each year and see how the prices compare. As well as making sure I paid all the bills each month.

- Filing my paycheck stubs/contribution receipts for the last few months.

- Filing the bills I have paid by mail.

- Renewing subscriptions to magazines that expire in Aug 07, Sept 07, or Oct 07.

Wow. That may be the most boring blog I’ve ever written. The sad part? I feel great right now.

Unfortunately, I still have some reading to do for grad school. Where did all the time go?

Tattoo update: Still undecided. But all opinions have been greatly appreciated.

I listen.

Not a lot of fans of the red and black blog. I hear ya. I didn’t love it either.

Hope this is better.

It’s too hot outside. Gross. Miserable. If I ever complain in the winter, slap me. With a frozen steak. Across the face.

My students REQUESTED that I drink a Diet Dr. Pepper tomorrow at lunch because they could “sense a difference in my mood” today. Yikes. It’s a little early in the year for them to realize that I probably need to be on medication.

I went to MPC (Aaron, you’re so jealous right now, huh?) with Heather and Marie Claire (better known as “Rooster McDooj”) tonight. Marie leaves for Asbury College tomorrow. When I don’t feel so emotional and sad about her leaving me, I’ll blog to you about how rad she is.

If I could download one song right now off of iTunes, it would be the “little bit mo” song that is on a Target commercial. I think I could dance all the way to school listening to that.

I’m having my tonsils taken out in about 4 weeks. More to come on that. Wait for it. It will be good. Let’s just say that blog will involve a photo taken with my built-in camera. Yeah. Nice.

PLEASE tell me you heard David Hasselhoff on “America’s Got Talent” last night. Horrible. He had to be drunk. I know I wished I was. Then maybe I wouldn’t remember what I had to hear. My ears bled.

There’s a man on TV that says he’s the second coming of Jesus. He’s drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. And he’s from Puerto Rico. Yeah…..he’s gonna get struck by lightening. He actually says he’s the “Anti-Christ”. He’s having his people tattoo 666 on their arms. OH YIKES. That makes me shiver. (I hope you are watching this on ABC because it is just getting weirder.) Sir, check the Bible. The Anti-Christ does not have a good ending. If I was to list a few things I’d never call myself because it’s a bad idea, “Anti-Christ” would definitely be on that list. “Robert” would be on that list also. Cause I’m a girl.

Speaking of tattoos- sound off. For them? Against them? Look at this guy’s view and then this guy’s view. I’m wondering what you think.

I was so over my template. Don’t love this one, except the colors. Hang with me. Working on it.

Daniel 3:13-18

Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.“

I can’t really add much to that without being way too vulnerable, even for me. (Which is saying a lot.)

Even if He does not. Yet I will serve Him. Yet I will love Him. Yet I will be His. For He is HOLY HOLY HOLY.

Yes, again, I’m a big deal. Gosh, I’m sorry that this just keeps happening. But what can I do? It’s a burden.

http://yourmomentisnow.com/blog.html

Ok, but seriously, here is the 2nd interview with my friend Shannon for her website. It is such an honor to be a part of what Shannon is doing and to be held accountable to my dreams by a good friend (and ALL her readers).

And though she asked some tough questions, I really enjoyed answering them. As you have probably figured out by now, it works for me to write stuff out- that’s how I process. So it was good to sit down and make myself think through my emotions and responses to all that has gone on.

Enjoy.

Dear Bill Pinto,

Do you wear jean shorts?

Ain’t nothin’ finer in the land than a [mini] obnoxious Georgia fan.

Go Dawgs.

Do you ever flip channels, thinking nothing good is going to be on, ready almost to turn off the TV? Then suddenly one of your favorite shows that you forget exists is on? That just happened to me. With this show-
Dog the Bounty Hunter. I love it. I won’t lie. This is an adrenaline pumped show, with some mild cussing and more than one bleep, but somehow we’re all still Christians who chase down and always catch the bad guys? So, whatever I guess. I dig that he’ll be in heaven with us. And a little part (read “big part”) of me wants a Dog t-shirt, cause they are really tough, just like me.

If this “Annie used to be cool” ship is going down, I’m takin’ Jeff Watkins with me, because he loves the Dog as well. So if you’re gonna label me “mildly white trash” for my appreciation of Hawaiian bounty hunters, remember I run with some high quality people who also may deserve that label.

And let me conclude by saying that there is nothing trashy about justice. Got it?

This particular episode is drama packed. I’ve tried to call Haley and Jeff twice- they are probably so into the show they can’t take their eyes off the television to answer the phone. I don’t take it personal. If you called me right now, I probably wouldn’t answer either.

While we’re at it, let me share with you some other shows that have a special place in my heart.

Deadliest Catch is a Downs family favorite. We gather together and often look for this show first. Don’t ask me why. We have watched MANY marathons, for some reason at the lakehouse a lot, that lasted for hours. The sad part is that we have watched the same marathon more than once. There is no shame in that. We love watching these guys try to catch crabs. There’s something to be said for every show leading us to believe that a rogue wave is going to end it all. That’s drama. And it’s real. It’s reality TV at it’s finest. Truly. Let’s just say that my Dad knows the names of the boats and the captains. Who am I kidding. So do I.

If that came on right now after Dog, I would pass out. Cold. Out of pure excitement.

Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe is also popular in the family. I introduced some dear friends of mine to this show over the weekend. I’m pretty sure they are changed. For life. If you’ve never watched this show, it is disgusting and hilarious. Mike Rowe has the sense of humor that I wish I could bottle up and spill on some unnamed people in my life- he is so quick-witted and sarcastic. A beautiful combo- mix that with some sick job that involves trash or waste or animals, and that makes for quite an entertaining half-hour.

Ready for me to kick it up another notch? Mike Rowe does the voice overs for Deadliest Catch. Yeah, I know. That’s almost too much good scoop in one blog.

There are more shows that I love, but these three jump out at me as my new favs. I could keep my TV on A&E or Discovery Channel most of the time and be pretty happy.

As if this wasn’t enough entertainment, in your future lies a blog about my favorite Food Network shows. And a blog about the Crocodile Hunter. I loved that man.

Update: it is 10:42pm. Channel 38- Dog. Channel 40- Dirty Jobs. So what’s a girl to do? Be thrilled and flip back and forth. That’s what.

If you don’t like football, don’t keep reading.

Did y’all know that Wade Phillips was the new head coach in Dallas? Though I loved Jim Mora, I don’t necessarily believe that the Falcons made the best choice when they let Wade go.

I just sat down and started flipping channels and heard a familiar soothing voice. Oh Joe Buck. You love to talk football on NFL on FOX. And it was then that I realized.

Today is August 9th.

Tomorrow is August 10th.

The first pre-season game for YOUR ATLANTA FALCONS.

Though I am exciting about the Georgia Bulldogs kicking it off with Oklahoma State on Sept. 1st, I have a special soft-spot in my heart for those ATL fellas. I fully understand that their performance has been completely subpar since the 1998 season, but I still perk up every year thinking, “This is the one. I can tell.” And every year I whine because they lose games that they shouldn’t. But so help me, I love ‘em anyways.

Don’t get me started on the team leader, Michael Vick. I’ve never been a huge fan, so I have no good things to say about him. But I do adore Keith Brooking. And I loved Patrick Kerney, but he is now a Seattle Seahawk. Tragic loss. Goodbye #97.

So I’m sitting here watching the Cowboys and the Colts, then during a commercial I do a little channel switch and WHAMMY- David Beckham and the LA Galaxy. What have I do to receive such a gift? American football and American soccer on TV at the same time? It’s so good, it’s not even right.

Hello, Fall. You are my favorite season. Welcome back. Now, could you cool off a bit? Thanks.

There’s this song that Christian Cagle used to sing when we lived together in college. She would bang pots and pans and wake us up to celebrate it being our first day of that particular year of college. I think about that song every year on the first day of school. And it makes me cringe as much as if I could still feel the pots and pans being banged right in my ears.

But I survived the first day. I really like my kids. I don’t like the first week and the last week- when they really don’t know the routine or abide by a routine, that’s the hardest. But we’ll survive. No one peed their pants today, which is ALWAYS an accomplishment.

On the non-job front, I feel like my brain is still there, in that picture. I can’t explain it. It’s not like I’m wishing I was still in Scotland (at least not today) or even that I was still sitting on that beach. It’s more that my mind is thinking like I was thinking sitting there. To your great surprise, I’m sure, I just have a lot going on up in my cabeza. There are things I want to figure out that I can’t. There are answers and directions and questions and hints and advice and concern and joy and hurt and information and revelation and desire and words and plans that are all cooped up together. Would someone get my mind a filing cabinet, please?

Because I need to separate these things and think them through individually. I need to be on that rock, with nothing but creation in front of me, so that I can attempt to file these things. But unfortunately, it’s like each paper is tied to another, so even to file them would tangle the strings, maybe rip the papers, surely be messy.

That’s what it is in here (“here” being “Annie’s brain”)- MESSY.

But it’s a hopeful messy. I think this is still what it looks like to “work it out”, as previously mentioned. I feel like it’s purposeful. It’s a directional messy. It’s like this painting. Maybe it will come together to be something, maybe not. Just colors. Thrown together at random. Thoughtlessly. Or was it?

The down side of this reflection time is that it is making lots of other things messy. Friendships. Job stuff. My journal. All of it. I talk on the phone, even to my sister, in short one or two word sentences. People ask how I am doing and I don’t have a good answer. I stumble around for words or phrases that make me sound like I am coping well with the hand I’ve been dealt or thriving in my environment, but they do not come. Not because I don’t want to talk (you KNOW I do), not because I’m in a bad mood (I promise I’m not); but because my focus is elsewhere- watching as my brain, or dare I say God, paints something with my thoughts and fears and questions and desires. I fear missing the stroke of genius. The one that completes the abstract art and makes a piece. And makes peace.

I want my brain, my life, to look like this painting- chaos and beauty and reason and random. To raise the question, “Who is this Artist and what was He thinking?” I’m okay if, even hoping that, people will say that about my life.

This is what I get for being a lover of abstract. For appreciating chaos in art. For being overly self-reflective. For asking you to suffer through this- you should be given some sort of badge.

And sorry if my friends (or sisters) feel unloved. I’m coming around. I’ll call you back tomorrow.