When A Neighbor Calls

"Joline, the call is coming from inside the house. Next door."

The natives are getting restless.

I received a phone call last night. A voice on the other end questioned my commitment to blogging seeing as I've not posted a single entry in two weeks. The muffled voice expressed disappointment at finding the photo of the Reuben sandwich still holding court as my most recent entry, thus revealing my lack of writing anything new. The voice was eerily familiar, and sounded close by. Through the laughter I realized the truth. This was serious.

This was no stranger calling, but rather, a raging fan whose house I can see from my office window.

I locked all the doors and windows, and then spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV, flipping between Olympic Men's Figure Skating ('cause that Johnny Weir intrigues me so) and LOST, while jotting down notes to add to this blog before THEY called again.

(HA! Me so funny.)

No, it's true. I've been a writing hoodlum. At least, here. However, I am, at the moment working on a piece to be submitted to a site, and have a goal of doing so before the end of the month. For let's review one of my writing goals for the year: submit one article for publication each month. I mentioned to my neighbor (who is truly so very encouraging of my writing and I adore that she is missing my witty banter) that there just didn't seem to be anything to post lately.

A quick "life-check" revealed that I couldn't be more wrong.

While Cuppa Jo seems empty at the moment, me, myself, and I, am very full, to the brim.

• There is almost 30 inches of snow outside.
• I just began taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Seminar and am on my way to kicking our financial butt back into shape.
• I just completed taking myself and my Mom To Mom group through a 30 day challenge of praying for one's spouse every day.
• I am now the proud owner of a Keurig. (Purchased prior to Dave Ramsey kicking my lazy *&%$!) Coffee snob no more.
• I am on Day 14 of Tony Horton's Power 90 workout and am already seeing some definition return to those muscles that I know God gave me. More @&^kicking.
• I finally cleaned out my scrap booking bag and am ready to dive back in once I have the coin to actually get photos printed.
• Harper has begun working on a story. On her own. With no prompting from me. My favorite line being, "Suddenly the blast of a trumpet broke the quietness of his ride."
• I've been hosting Zane's friends and enjoying his adventures with friends at their houses.
• The living room and dining room are well on their way to being decorated with the help of my own personal Candice Olson, in the form of a wonderful friend and neighbor.
• My "Z" key has been broken for 2 weeks now.
• Mary Kay'ing continues around my dining room table as a means of getting to know people and earn cashola to pay down our debt.
• I like to bake.
• I also like to shred paper and have been shredding TONS of old, unnecessary paperwork. (Yes, I actually find this to be fun.)
• I have been spending time with friends. At their houses. At my house. At church. Any where. I love the time I have to be with people. To share meals. To share belongings. To share life.

So, dear neighbor, (and you know you are dear), while my blogging cup seems empty, it is because God has been filling my cup with all good things. Things that YOU reminded me to jot down. Here. Thank you for the reminder!

Speaking of jotting them down. THIS is my next project:

Getting this blog turned into book form. For my children. Thank you to my dear friend over at The Rauch House for the brilliant idea. I had two other blogs prior to this one. We'll see if we can get them bound as well.

Thanks for the phone call.

And the molasses.