WHEW. It has been awhile since I posted!
So I ran across this article on CNN today...and it could not have been a more perfect find to my current "struggles."
You can read it here...
When the Fat Girl Got Mad at God
I do not feel that I blame God for me being fat...I simply blame myself, as I should. I have not been "craving" God, and I think I do tend to think about food more than I do about God. This is very sad and embarrassing to admit, but it is the truth nonetheless. I also don't think I ironicly stumbled across this article either...I think it was God speaking to me. Well, I'm all ears! :o)
SO! This article left me wanting to read more! As my pattern always seems to be, I looked up "Made to Crave" by Lysa TerKeurst which then led me to the book's blog site which then led me to Lysa's blog which then led me to Psalm 31 Minitries! First of all, the video on the book's blog site is HILARIOUS!
Check it out here...
Made to Crave
Anyway, Lysa is awesome...I think she is someone you just want to keep watching because of how God's word shines through :o)
Lysa TerKeurst's Videos
ENJOY!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mary Kay
So, I've decided to give a shout out to...MYSELF!
I guess it would be stupid of me not to mention that I sell Mary Kay!
I started selling it in March, after MUCH careful thought and consideration. I sought out the opinions of my close friends and family...inquiring whether they'd even be interested in the product, etc. etc.
Anyway, many of my family members use and have used Mary Kay for years. I figured, if anything, I would be a good and reliable means of getting them the product they need.
So, yes, I sell Mary Kay...and if you're ever interested in trying and/or purchasing the product, which I do swear by and offer 100% customer satisfaction, let me know!
You can purchase product on my website:
Cooking
So. I always have super high hopes of preparing new and exciting meals for me and my hubby. I like to try new stuff...and I always, ALWAYS, add lib a bit (OK, a lot). Ask my hubby, haha, I am always making up some new "sauce." Unfortunately, I tend to usually HATE everything I make. I guess I'm pickier than I realize. FORTUNATELY, the hubby tends to LOVE everything I make so, I'm good to go because at least he likes it and it wasn't a total waste (unless he just tells me loves it...sheesh...that would suck).
ANYWHO...I somehow stumbled upon a new blog in which I have found myself highly addicted to (like that is hard)...
Beth, at Budget Bytes, is awesome at compiling and preparing inexpensive, yet delicious, recipes! The best thing about this, I think, is her pictures! I don't know about you but when I am trying a new recipes I ALWAYS want to see pictures of what I am trying to make! She even has step by step pictures. PERFECT!
I like to think that I love to cook and be in the kitchen preparing glorious meals, no matter how long it takes, but that is not the true of the matter. I want 5-star restaurant quality food prepared in under 30 minutes...and I want all of the ingredients to be "easy" (i.e., I know where to find them in the grocery store and I don't have to look them up online to see what they look like).
So, anyway, I just wanted to share some other sites I visit on a regular, seeking really easy and new dinner ideas! Enjoy!
Women's Day
Take notice of the "Easy Recipes" Tab, hehe. ;o) But seriously, be sure to check out the Month of Menus!
AllRecipes.com
I like clicking on "Ingredients" at the top of the page and typing in keywords like "easy" or "crockpot."
Monday, April 12, 2010
JMU Springfest RIOT
However, I hope that this one event will not change the opinions of JMU as a whole. This tragic event is NOT usual, and I am positive that something like this WILL NOT happen again in the near future. Our school will not allow it.
FIRST, let's start with the pictures...JMU Springfest Riot 2010
NOW for the "facts." (I am not responsible for how accurate these accounts may be, however, I think the pictures speak for themselves.)
Police Use Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets to Disperse More Than 8,000
April 12, 2010
President Linwood Rose left no questions regarding his response to the JMU community via e-mail on Sunday evening, addressing those students who attended Springfest.
“Your collective behavior was an embarrassment to your university and a discredit to our reputation,” Rose said. He plans to handle similar situations even more seriously in the future.
The aftermath of Saturday’s block parties consisted of more than 30 arrests, a stabbing, extensive property damage and injured police and partygoers. The Harrisonburg community has not experienced a riot this serious in 10 years, when civil disobedience units responded to a crowd of more than 2,000 students.
Mayor Kai Degner plans to hear a report at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to assess the situation and determine how to improve upon the city’s policies, according to hburgnews.com.
Springfest is an annual, multi-day block party in Fox Hill Townhomes. After police warned residents that officers would be present in the area, the party moved to Forest Hills townhomes.
Police tried to control more than 8,000 people this year. Harrionsburg Police Department Lt. Kurt Boshart said approximately 2,000 people usually attend the party.
More than 200 officers from Augusta County, Rockingham County, JMU, Staunton and the Virginia State Police were called in, Boshart said.
Students received a text message from JMU’s emergency communications system ordering “Non-Residents of Village Lane to disperse from social events in that area immediately for safety reasons,” just after 6 p.m. Many said the text was delayed because of an overcrowded phone system.
After approaching riot status, officers threw grenades of tear gas at the crowd of more than 1,000, focusing their attention on those still loitering at 6:45 p.m. Some partygoers were also sprayed with pepper spray or hit with rubber bullets and beanbags.
Many people continued to stay in the area, saying they weren’t doing anything to incite a riot.
Officers were prepared to use necessary and appropriate forces to control the crowd.
“The process is actually very formal,” Boshart said. “Our officers are trained to handle any chemical charge. It’s about as formal of a process as you can get.”
Block party attendees were told Friday evening to leave Manor Circle and Sully Drive as well. According to HPD, management of complexes called officers in because they couldn’t handle the masses of partygoers. Management previously posted flyers warning residents of the violations associated with mass gatherings.
HPD: Visitors Cause Escalation
Boshart believes a large number of the crowd came in from different schools in the area and that led to the problems.
“We had people from Fairfax coming in with no ties to JMU whatsoever,” Boshart said. He added that others from Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee and William & Mary contributed to the overcrowding.
As the riot squad blocked incoming beer cans and liquor bottles being thrown, attendees turned the struggle into a game, cheering for the squad. Boshart said more than a dozen officers sustained minor injuries, including cuts and bruises from thrown beer bottles and rocks.
Boshart said three to four people were flown to U.Va Medical Center. He did not specify the exact injuries. Approximately 30 people were treated at Rockingham Memorial Hospital with unspecified injuries, according to the information Boshart had on Sunday afternoon.
One of the more serious injuries was an unidentified male who was also stabbed in the leg with an unknown object on the 1400 block of Devon Lane, Boshart said.
Boshart explained that people were told to stay away from the scene, otherwise they would be charged.
“With unlawful assembly, there’s no option — you have to leave,” Boshart said. “Even if you’re just standing there, you are in violation of the law.”
Boshart said most of the arrests stemmed from failure to disperse from a riot and being drunk in public.
Police did not know specifically how many were arrested because the various departments made their own arrests. Harrisonburg Police Department said it would work to get all names of those arrested by the various departments to release during today’s press conference. The time will be announced Monday morning.
A K-9 unit stood behind the squad. An ambulance on standby blocked off traffic at the top of Forest Hill Road.
Police remained on the premises for the rest of the evening, set for students who came back for a night of partying. As evening set in, the state police brought in a helicopter to help with aerial surveillance throughout the entire night.
“We had little satellite parties popping up in different locations throughout that housing area,” Boshart said. “We were responding to a lot more fight calls throughout the evening.”
Currently, HPD is collaborating with surrounding departments to figure out how to prevent the situation from occurring again.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, a lot of things to be organized,” Boshart said. “We’ll be sitting down to find out what things did work, what didn’t work with this situation.”
According to Boshart, police officers recorded the activities with video cameras. If HPD is able to identify perpetrators of illegal acts, then the police will use the footage to press further charges, Boshart said.
Judicial Affairs will also receive the arrest information for students.
Mixed Responses
Laura, a senior who lives in Forest Hills, experienced the full force of the onslaught. Patrons threw beer bottles that broke all her windows in the middle of the riot.
According to Laura, Springfest has never been this bad before. Police told her and her roommates if they left the area, they wouldn’t be able to come back to their home. She chose to stay.
Police presence “is what stopped the bottle throwing,” Laura said.
“There were several students that were thanking [police] repeatedly,” Boshart said. “When there’s alcohol, excessive drinking involved, the people in attendance are the ones who dictated what happened last night.”
Other people involved, including 2009 JMU alumnus Mike Myslinski, believed the police presence worsened the situation.
“When they came in, people started throwing beer bottles at them,” Myslinski said.
At about 6:40 p.m., the riot squad yelled through a megaphone: “Get down the hill” and “You need to move. Get off the property.”
One man was pushed down the hill by the team, who set a dog after him. Once at the bottom of the hill, he continued yelling back and forth with police until they came toward him, handcuffing him and arresting him. “Are you serious?” he asked, looking around.
Another man who was pushed said he didn’t do anything to deserve it, calling it “police brutality.”
“He came up with the shield and just pushed me,” said the student who did not want to be identified. “I wasn’t doing anything, just standing here.”
A student from Salisbury University, visiting friends for the weekend, said he was tear-gassed because “ignorant people threw bottles.”
The student reported coughing up blood for almost 10 minutes afterward.
Another student said the grenade exploded right in his face.
“I couldn’t move, breathe, talk, smile, for five minutes,” he said. Officers had to escort him away from the scene because he couldn’t see through his bloodshot eyes, he said.
Under Control in Hours
According to Boshart, HPD called for reinforcements at about 3:30 p.m., specifically a civil disturbance unit.
At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, officers controlling traffic weren’t sure how much longer they’d be on guard, but ere aggravated having been called in at the last minute.
Students in the Texaco parking lot were cleared out by 6:45 p.m. and about 10 police officers guarded the dirt hill bordering the back of the townhomes, but the other side held strong.
By 7:30 p.m. most of the crowd had vacated the area and were walking along Port Republic Road to get away from the tear gas. Many were disgruntled and commenting angrily about the way the situation was handled.
Residents Work To Clean Up After Saturday’s Riot
April 12, 2010
HARRISONBURG — Shards of glass, heaps of cans, crushed boxes and forgotten Solo cups littered the streets and lawns of Forest Hills townhomes Sunday morning. Tired residents and workers came out to clean up the debris left from Saturday’s block party.
Senior Chris Collichio, a resident of Forest Hills who attended Springfest the last four years, has never seen anything like this. He remembers participating “back when it was nice.”
Collichio’s house is at the far end of the block from where the tear-gassing began. The gas forced students down to his end of the street. With police also at that end, his house and the cars surrounding the parking lot provided easy targets for many scattered students to throw rocks, he said.
“My car, a silver BMW, has a rock that went straight through the window,” Collichio said. “That car right there got elbowed [through the back windshield]. That’s not even a rock there; someone just smashed that one. Our house literally has holes.”
Collichio’s damage spanned the entire perimeter of the house, and he didn’t even face the worst of it.
The devastation did not end in Forest Hills.
Patricia Cline, an employee of the Texaco gas station on Port Republic Road for the last three years, worked Saturday night during the block parties. The store received damage both inside and out, even after the neighborhood had been tear-gassed.
“They pissed all over floor, spilled beer all over the floor, basically trashed the place,” Cline said. “Our parking lot was trashed. Ever since they’ve had these parties it’s been fine. [Saturday] night none of them had any respect. They literally cussed us for not opening the doors to let them get more beer.”
Employees at the other two closest stations — Liberty and Campus Corner — declined to comment.
A statement released by JMU said the university “does not condone the action of the small group of individuals that led to the escalation of the events. The university will continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies as the situation warrants.”
Eric Haskins, who was hired to pick up cans, attended the events Saturday night and was out Sunday morning trying to help clean up the trash. He didn’t agree with the steps the police took.
“I’ve been doing this for five years. This was ridiculous last night,” he said. “I think the cops went overboard. JMU never had no s— like this happen. It was uncalled for.”
The rubble led the way to where the tear-gassing began at the end of the block. That’s where Laura, a Forest Hills resident, stood surrounded by beer cans. Just like Collichio, Laura has attended Springfest for the last four years. She says the violence began long before the police began to use the tear gas. Kids were throwing bottles at her house breaking her windows, and one even hit her friend in the face.
“I’ve come to block party every year I’ve been here, and it’s never been an angry mood like it was yesterday,” Laura said. “People were out to hurt people. The second that first bottle got thrown, that’s when the mood changed.”
Despite being tear-gassed herself, she appreciated Saturday’s police presence.
“We called them repeatedly,” Laura said. “I mean, my friend came in and his face was entirely bloody. They wouldn’t come to our house ’cause they couldn’t get here. They may have overreacted, but none of us who live here think so because we’re the ones who wanted them there.
"Yeah, we got tear-gassed. All of us in the house, even with closed windows we had to be down in the basement because all of us were on fire. We were on fire for hours. None of us could breathe. But honestly even going through that and dealing with the effects of tear gas, it’s OK.”
After the crowd dispersed, the atmosphere was still intense according to Collichio.
“It was like Somalia here at night,” Collichio said. “There was a helicopter with a spotlight going around. There was text messages from JMU saying if you were throwing any sort of party in Forest Hills you would be arrested. It was like a war zone.”
While landlords and tenants are working to address the damages, most residents spent Sunday trying to clear the destruction outside their front doors.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Pure Exhilaration!
The trail is made up of sand, dirt, small rocks, and even oyster shells in some parts! It has 14 bridges as well as many observations decks that overlook the breathtaking views of Lake Maury. It is home to ducks, geese, deer, squirrels, turtles, etc. The turtles are usually found on logs/tree branches sticking out of the water, however, I have not seen any this year yet. Maybe because the water is still cold? I also have never seen any deer but my husband always finds, and is sure to point out, "signs of deer" when we've walked together, hehe ;o)
However, we do have a hurdle to overcome...
We will be walking perfectly, then BAM! All of a sudden, Gage will start dragging me! For being only 55 lbs., that dog is ALL MUSCLE. Seeing, nor hearing, no one around, I'm thinking, "what the heck is his deal!?!" I start to get angry, which is the worst thing I can do since "my emotions go straight down the leash from my hand to the dog."
Well, come to find out...Gage (like most dogs) can smell anything and has hit the scent of another dog! And, he is on a mission to catch up to that dog, no matter how far away it is. Although frustrating for me at the time, I find it funny as I picture it now...his nose is to the ground; his paws are digging into the dirt as he's pulling; and he's practically dragging me! It is funny when we finally approach the people in front of us. They must hear us coming because they always look back. They must have sympathy for me as well because people will stop along the trail to let us catch up and pass. Just picture dog sled dogs...then picture me with my legs flailing around. Yep. Hilarious. Embarrassing. At least we are flying by and I never have to see them again!
In my research about the history of the trail, I found out that there is an Annual 10K on the Noland Trail. Born and raised here, and I had no idea about it! I think I may just have to participate in that this year :o)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Laus Deo!
Did you know?
Did you know that the four faces of the pyramidal point of the Washington Monument all bear inscriptions? Interestingly enough, the East face bears the words "Laus Deo."
Do you know what those words mean?
555 feet, 5.125 inches high, facing skyward, overlooking 69 square miles "Laus Deo" means "PRAISE BE TO GOD!"
The Washington Monument...what a magnificant landmark!
Construction of this giant obelisk (which means a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top) began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States of America. He was our 11th President in case you forgot! The monument was built to commemorate the 1st U.S. president, General George Washington. The Washington Monument is the tallest stone structure in the world and the world's tallest obelisk. It was designed by Robert Mills, an architect of the 1840s. A difference in shading of the marble is visible approximately 150 feet high. This shows where construction was halted for a number of years!
The Point to my History Lesson:
How neat it is to see another tribute to the Father of our nation...
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