ENCOURAGED IN HEART

This morning as I looked out my office window to admire the overcast sky, I found my neighbor, the neighbor, in which I asked two years ago, to please put his rottweiler on a leash. I felt very uncomfortable doing so because I love both dogs and peace, but I mustered up the courage and asked him anyway.

Let me just quickly summarize – it didn’t go well.

The neighbor adamantly declared that his dog was well-trained and obeyed commands and didn’t need a leash. Then to prove just how obedient his dog was, he called the dog, and his dog was all like,

(photo from Google)

“Huh, dude?” and ran away from his owner.

Can ya stand it?

Back to today…

One hour after the rottweiler freely frollicked in the grass near my home, I drove away with my apprehensive kindergartener and eager second grader to meet their new school teachers. Seconds into the drive, I noticed that my sexy minivan had a wobble to it. Just to clear the air, the wobble was not due to my champion eating session(s) at Stacey’s wedding weekend…okay? The wobble was a flat tire.

Since the Finkster was working from home, the boys and I did the car/car seat exchange fire drill and made it to school on time…YES! Go team Fink! only to be parked right behind a familiar man. The man, that made the way low offer on our home.

Am I on Punk’d? Is Aston Kutcher going to jump out from behind a bush and say, “Slam…you’re so punked?”

Nope, no Aston.  With rolled eyes, I just had to laugh.  “You can be bitter or better…but ya can’t be both” is a phrase that Joyce Meyer often says. And I realized that I have choices, many choices, all throughout the day, particularly this day.

As we walked past his abandoned car, I noticed that he left his side door open.

Yes, I closed it…and laughed again.

There are endless opportunities to be bitter or better. I actually told my dolphin watching girlfriend, Leslie K, yesterday that, “I feel like the enemy planted idiot bulbs this past spring and that the idiots are in full bloom this summer.”

Sorry if the word “idiot” sounds a tad harsh…it’s actually a whole lot better than what I would have spoken fifteen years ago…where my language mirrored more of a Jersey Shore cast member. I may still be on the spazznastics mat, but my word choices…well, there’s some progress on that front.

All this to write, what’s inside, eventually comes out. When life throws ya a couple of lemons, don’t just take the bitter juice for what it is, make the better lemonade!

Where’s an area that you debating with yourself about being bitter or better?

Have you ever had one of those days…weeks…months, where you feel like it’s five steps forward and then eighteen million steps backwards?

Then, out of the blue, you get a, “YAY, a pull through!”?

That’s what I had occur just yesterday.  My “YAY, a pull through” occurred through my sister, Joann. (Yes, the one that knows how to rock a hair net and how to run in a triathlon!)

I was knee-deep in life, but chose to focus on the only thing I could “control” on the list, a redo…we painted the kitchen and boys bathroom into a more subtle, neutral color.  Potential buyers dig neutrals,  is the word on the street and from our realtor.  Well, the accessories in the newly neutralized rooms just didn’t jive.

I was in the middle of the curtain nonsense, that’s what it felt like to me, nonsense.  There are hungry people in the world, people who don’t even have a home, or their hut’s roof is torn, and here I am lamenting on which curtain I should hang and what carpet would look best for the “buyer”, whoever they happen to be…

Anyhoozers.

Our realtor’s photographer was coming this morning and I wanted the place to look better as most home buyers start from internet pics.  I know how blessed we are to have such a  beautiful home to be leaving only to enter an even more spacious home…I know how blessed I am.   And feeling pretty blessed to have some sides on our foundation too!

I won’t lie, I’m more than a tad weary of dust busting, making beds, wiping toothpaste goo from the sink, fingerprints off the windows and straightening pillows. Well, that and, we’ve been on the market four-months people.  My specific prayer is that we’ll only need to move once, not into temporary housing.  So God is hooking us up not only with a sweet new pad, but on the whole one move thing thus far.

The joy of having a home on the market. I love cleaning my home, I love cleaning my home, I love cleaning my home…

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Well, in the midst of pulling curtains around, as well as the hair from my head…Joann calls.  I’m horrible at asking for help, even when I really need it, and I know it’s a pride thing and that’s not cool, so I’m working on it…I’m really working on it.  So that’s that.

Well, I didn’t want to ask Jo for help because 1.  like I just wrote, I’m sinfully proud and working on that 2. she’s been  having a bed and breakfast this summer with the quantity of guests rotating in her home 3. her homes’s on the market as well  4. she jacked up her finger and was wearing a metal cast…which proved quiet helpful in adding a dramatic flair to our silent think tank sessions and 5. did I fail to mention that she works, is married and has two kids too?!?   Well, Jo was “kicked out” of her home for a showing, and she called, and I asked for her opinion, (which I said was on the carpet and curtains and that’s all)…six hours later, a trip to Home Depot,  a trip to the french boutique, Tar-get where in both parking lots Joann declares, “YAY…a pull thru!”

A what?

A “pull thru” in the Joann dictionary occurs when you go to park in a parking lot but the spot in front of you is open and you can, pull thru, so when you return to your car, you don’t need to back up.  She rejoiced so loud in the Home Depot lot, that the gal in the sexy minivan next to me, that was meditating, or reading or doing something silently, with her windows down, turned, smiled and said a “YAY!” right back at us with a “Booo” for her because she had nothing but curb and grass in front of her.  I suggested that she, “Show everyone in this parking lot what your sexy minivan’s made of girl!”

I don’t think she did.

But I did “pull thru” and Jo did a mild version of the sitting electric slide right there in my sports car, with her metallic sore finger and all.  About the sports car thing, well, that’s what I call the Finkster’s sedan, because, like I’ve told you many times before, I drive a sexy minivan.  A minivan, in all honesty, is the exact opposite of a sports car, but I really am digressing…

All this to say, Jo had the same delight in the Target parking lot, which when we returned to my sports car, with her “payment” a Snickers bar and a bottle of Febreeze (I won’t tell you which one she consumed) we headed back to my pad to sit and watch Jo work her magic on the Fink pad.  I’m not much into home decor at all, (check out the before pics below) but I’m grateful for friends that are and not afraid to straighten out my life and iron curtains with nine digits…all in the name of smelling desperation and acting out of love.

Jo’s not the only one smelling desperation.  My friend Leslie smelled it on me too.  After she returned from the Jersey Shore (The place, not the show, okay? Could you imagine Snooki decorating my place? No.  Brain stop.  I’m stressing out more now…), we had already planned for her to work her magic on my pad.  But the pics were being taken today and I had to move quick…

All this to say, take a look-see at the before and after pics:

KITCHEN:

BOYS BATHROOM:

PLAYROOM:

I’m grateful that when I was teetering out, God, in the right moment gave me a, “YAY…a pull thru!” and I’m not talking about the parking lot now, I’m talking my girlfriends.  I’m talking about a God-like, “I’ll pull ya thru!”  I needed a smiling nine digit sister with mad decorating and ironing skills to come to my aid because I’m getting a little weary.  Cleaning, patience and home decorating are just not strong talents of mine.  But I got a “YAY, friends to pull me thru” and I’m so, very, grateful.

Then, just moments ago, I received a call from Joann that she just received the very first offer on her home!  Another example of a, “YAY…a pull thru!”

Which room do you think she did the best job on?  And, what’s a “YAY…a pull thru!” that you’ve had lately?!?