I've heard people say "If only I could go back in time knowing what I know now". In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've said that very same thing!
In reality, you'd just make different decisions that might have good or bad consequences. Because, the truth of the matter is just that. Decisions, even well thought out ones sometimes don't have the results that we've foreseen. Living a life of faith is how you deal with those consequences, whether good or bad!
I try my best not to let my schedule get out of hand and this is a huge struggle for me. It never fails, though, that no matter how well-planned activities sometimes run together. You'll have that when you're a Christian trying to live her faith, a wife, a mother, and a business owner who works from home.
When I say "it is what it is" doesn't mean that I don't do everything in my power to make sure whatever I'm doing or organizing isn't done to the best of my ability. I am a perfectionist, but I do reach a point where I finally let go and recognize that I can't control everything.
We'd studied the book of Esther awhile back in our Wednesday evening Bible Study at Pilgrim Church and it really struck home. If you've never taken an in-depth look at this book of the Bible, you should really check it out.
It illustrates very well that God is the only one in control. We have free will, true. We cannot understand how God can be in control yet we need to take action at the same time. Maybe it's because God chooses to act through those willing to act for Him.
One of the most important things I learned from this book is that as Christians, we should avoid the two extremes.
1. Doing nothing
2. Feeling that we must do it all
So, I do everything I can in my power to make whatever project I'm working on successful and I might drive myself a little crazy in the process, but when it gets down to it, I realize that it really...
It is what it is!
Let go and let God.
In Christ,
Shari
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
It's all good....Sam & Elliot are settling in nicely!
Yesterday completed full day number two since Sam & Elliot came to be with us. We've settled into quite a routine and have already learned some things along the way. We're much better at feeding, meaning milk gets sucked into their noses. When that happens, it can be aspirated--don't you hate that feeling...when something you're drinking goes up you nose?
They're fed with a medicine syringe like the ones you use for babies, but as they both settled in and gotten more used to us, they've started competing with one another to get to the food. I looked in a drawer in the kitchen I used to keep baby stuff handy so I wouldn't have to run upstairs all the time when the girls were babies and found a couple of extra medicine syringes. They were both smaller than the other one, but actually work better. They glide easier when pushing the plunger and allows Sam & Elliot to suck the milk out of the end rather than pushing it into their mouths. Another plus? Sam & Elliot can both be fed at the same time. With close supervision, I've allowed Mackenzie & Maura to begin feeding them and it works out much better with the two little syringes. Someone suggested a hamster bottle, but I'd tried that and it did not work. The milk came out too fast for them. All the information I've found online indicated baby medicine syringes were the best way to go. Thankfully, my de-cluttering journey had not been completed as far as that kitchen drawer yet!
Sam & Elliot still sleep a lot, but as they start to get more active, I'm going to have to find something better than an AVON box for them to stay contained. For now, they're small enough and sleep so much, that it works fine. It fits well on the heating pad and they have a nice snuggie area in the corner of our bedroom.
Bedroom, you say? Well, it was the safest place where we could close the door when we weren't in the room and where we knew they'd have complete supervision. With two cats and a dog in the house, you can't be too careful! Princess Amber Star is a cocker spaniel, a hunting dog, after all! Buddy is almost 17 years old, our orange cat, but I still wouldn't trust him and Josie, she's about 8 and I definitely wouldn't trust her!
They hardly ever pay attention to the hamsters any more, but you can bet if they got out of the cage...that'd be another story. Since Buddy is the oldest and sleeps a lot, usually on our bed, I felt bad about kicking him out of the bedroom. He also likes to sleep in my office chair so I made him a big, fluffy bed under my desk on my favorite blanket. Notice I said my favorite blanket. I've never liked him laying on this blanket because it seems to collect cat hair like nobody's business and it's hard to get it all out! But we all have to make sacrifices, I guess! Plus, I'd always be kicking him out of my chair. He seems to have adjusted well.
Since I have to work and do everything now in three-hour increments, I guess I'd better get working! I'll post more pictures and updates as the journey continues.
They're fed with a medicine syringe like the ones you use for babies, but as they both settled in and gotten more used to us, they've started competing with one another to get to the food. I looked in a drawer in the kitchen I used to keep baby stuff handy so I wouldn't have to run upstairs all the time when the girls were babies and found a couple of extra medicine syringes. They were both smaller than the other one, but actually work better. They glide easier when pushing the plunger and allows Sam & Elliot to suck the milk out of the end rather than pushing it into their mouths. Another plus? Sam & Elliot can both be fed at the same time. With close supervision, I've allowed Mackenzie & Maura to begin feeding them and it works out much better with the two little syringes. Someone suggested a hamster bottle, but I'd tried that and it did not work. The milk came out too fast for them. All the information I've found online indicated baby medicine syringes were the best way to go. Thankfully, my de-cluttering journey had not been completed as far as that kitchen drawer yet!
Sam & Elliot still sleep a lot, but as they start to get more active, I'm going to have to find something better than an AVON box for them to stay contained. For now, they're small enough and sleep so much, that it works fine. It fits well on the heating pad and they have a nice snuggie area in the corner of our bedroom.
Bedroom, you say? Well, it was the safest place where we could close the door when we weren't in the room and where we knew they'd have complete supervision. With two cats and a dog in the house, you can't be too careful! Princess Amber Star is a cocker spaniel, a hunting dog, after all! Buddy is almost 17 years old, our orange cat, but I still wouldn't trust him and Josie, she's about 8 and I definitely wouldn't trust her!
They hardly ever pay attention to the hamsters any more, but you can bet if they got out of the cage...that'd be another story. Since Buddy is the oldest and sleeps a lot, usually on our bed, I felt bad about kicking him out of the bedroom. He also likes to sleep in my office chair so I made him a big, fluffy bed under my desk on my favorite blanket. Notice I said my favorite blanket. I've never liked him laying on this blanket because it seems to collect cat hair like nobody's business and it's hard to get it all out! But we all have to make sacrifices, I guess! Plus, I'd always be kicking him out of my chair. He seems to have adjusted well.
Since I have to work and do everything now in three-hour increments, I guess I'd better get working! I'll post more pictures and updates as the journey continues.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Far out Friday
If any day there was the UnExpected, it was today. It all began with the morning drop off of the girls at school. I'm sitting in the traffic jam, waiting to turn when I look over at this guy parked on the side of the road. I guess that he'd just let his kids out for school too. Nothing unusual, right? Then, I got really grossed out and sick to my stomach. He lifted a bottled water container, that had this gooey brown stuff in the bottom and spit in it. How anyone can have that disgusting habit is beyond me. I thought that I'd never have to see that again when I moved back to Ohio from Alabama, but I guess that I was wrong. Disgusting! I tried to erase it from my thoughts as I turned so that I could stop my roiling belly.
I went home and the rest of the morning and afternoon were nothing out of the ordinary. I had some office time, got some AVON brochures ready to deliver to my customers, and got on the road. I had a couple of personal errands to run as well so that meant that I wouldn't finish my AVON brochure route in time to pick up the girls. I decided to treat them to some ice cream and finish up before heading to church to help with our book sale.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and our car windows were all at least partially open as we let in the nice breeze while driving around town. I pulled to a stop at the intersection of 3rd and Hudson Dr. in the Falls and another car with a mom and teens in it turned onto the street. As they did so, we heard the mom go "Awe, look at the baby squirrel!" I think she might have started to tell me to be careful, but I was already jumping out of my car. And there it was, sitting in the street, right next to my tire! The most adorable thing! I was never so thankful for traffic because if I'd pulled out, the poor baby might have been ran over. My first thought was that I had to get it out of the road.
I dumped out the AVON brochures onto the seat and used the box to scoop it up. The poor thing was so scared that I didn't want to scoop it up in my hands or anything, but I would have if it meant getting it out of the road. Thank goodness I almost always have AVON boxes in my car. After coaxing it into the box, I started looking around at my surroundings. There was busy traffic everywhere! How could I let it out in this area without it going back out into the road. It'd never survive on its own and though I wasn't very experienced with baby squirrels, it didn't look old enough to be away from the mommy yet. I decided to take it home with me and got back into the car. At the very least, it could go in my fenced back yard and have a little better chance at survival.
The other car had left and I looked over in the yard, hoping to spot a mommy squirrel. Instead, I saw ANOTHER baby squirrel climbing up a tree! Surely the mommy had to be somewhere nearby....at least I hoped. I turned left and took another left into the adjacent parking lot next to the yard. By that time, the other baby squirrel had come back down the tree and was sitting at the bottom. My girls and I began walking over to it and all of a sudden it started running towards Mackenzie and wouldn't stop running towards her. She kept backing away from it and it kept going towards her. It was kind of comical. I'd told both the girls not to touch them because you never know with animals how they'll react to people and certainly never touch wild animals, especially when they're scared. The silly baby squirrel kept going towards Mackenzie and she kept backing away. I told her to stop and it stopped so I scooped it up in the box with the other one. It kind of reminded me of that nursery rhyme about Little Bunny Foo-Foo only with squirrels!
We began looking around for the mommy, but no luck. I decided to head on my way, with the babies tucked safe in the box, but I had no idea what I was going to do with them. We were stopping for McDonalds as I continued delivering my AVON brochures. I was talking with my mom on the cell phone, telling her about the squirrels and asking if she knew what to do when Maura piped up, "I think I saw the mommy squirrel in the tree, only she was dead or not moving." So, I turned around to be sure. We hung out in that parking lot for 45 minutes to make sure mommy squirrel didn't show up, but the freeway is right next to this road and there's busy Hudson Drive. I really don't think mommy was able to be around any longer or she wouldn't have left the babies.
Thank goodness for the Internet! I was able to find out exactly what to do. I tried to do the right thing and contact a "re-habber" which is a person who takes in wild baby animals and raises them until they're old enough to be on their own. However, no one has called me back. Again, thank goodness for the Internet because now it looks like I'm caring for them myself until they can be let loose in the back yard. We have a big back yard that's fenced in. Who knows..maybe they'll stay, but if not, there's a nice field between a few of the properties back there. At least they'll be grown enough to have a fighting chan ce.
I guess it's going to be a good experience for Mackenzie & Maura (me too!) We've named them "Sam" & "Elliot" after one of my favorite actors, Sam Elliot. I've posted some pictures below. According to my research, they're about 5 weeks old right now and they can't be released until they're about 5 months old. They can start having solid food when they're 8 weeks, but for now, they have to be formula fed (puppy milk formula) every three or four hours. I'm lucky to have a flexible schedule as an AVON Representative.
They have to be kept warm, too, so a bed has been made for them in a box with a lid (holes in top)and it's sitting on a heating pad on low. When they get bigger, they'll go into the dog cage, but for now, all they seem to do is sleep between feedings. They like to burrow & cuddle together in the pillow case. You use a pillow case or something smooth for covering because their toenails are so long (needed for climbing--they're tree squirrels). Towels or other types of material would get tangled in the loops.
I've posted some pictures below and also a video! I'll keep you posted on the journey! Talk about the UnExpected!
I went home and the rest of the morning and afternoon were nothing out of the ordinary. I had some office time, got some AVON brochures ready to deliver to my customers, and got on the road. I had a couple of personal errands to run as well so that meant that I wouldn't finish my AVON brochure route in time to pick up the girls. I decided to treat them to some ice cream and finish up before heading to church to help with our book sale.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and our car windows were all at least partially open as we let in the nice breeze while driving around town. I pulled to a stop at the intersection of 3rd and Hudson Dr. in the Falls and another car with a mom and teens in it turned onto the street. As they did so, we heard the mom go "Awe, look at the baby squirrel!" I think she might have started to tell me to be careful, but I was already jumping out of my car. And there it was, sitting in the street, right next to my tire! The most adorable thing! I was never so thankful for traffic because if I'd pulled out, the poor baby might have been ran over. My first thought was that I had to get it out of the road.
I dumped out the AVON brochures onto the seat and used the box to scoop it up. The poor thing was so scared that I didn't want to scoop it up in my hands or anything, but I would have if it meant getting it out of the road. Thank goodness I almost always have AVON boxes in my car. After coaxing it into the box, I started looking around at my surroundings. There was busy traffic everywhere! How could I let it out in this area without it going back out into the road. It'd never survive on its own and though I wasn't very experienced with baby squirrels, it didn't look old enough to be away from the mommy yet. I decided to take it home with me and got back into the car. At the very least, it could go in my fenced back yard and have a little better chance at survival.
The other car had left and I looked over in the yard, hoping to spot a mommy squirrel. Instead, I saw ANOTHER baby squirrel climbing up a tree! Surely the mommy had to be somewhere nearby....at least I hoped. I turned left and took another left into the adjacent parking lot next to the yard. By that time, the other baby squirrel had come back down the tree and was sitting at the bottom. My girls and I began walking over to it and all of a sudden it started running towards Mackenzie and wouldn't stop running towards her. She kept backing away from it and it kept going towards her. It was kind of comical. I'd told both the girls not to touch them because you never know with animals how they'll react to people and certainly never touch wild animals, especially when they're scared. The silly baby squirrel kept going towards Mackenzie and she kept backing away. I told her to stop and it stopped so I scooped it up in the box with the other one. It kind of reminded me of that nursery rhyme about Little Bunny Foo-Foo only with squirrels!
We began looking around for the mommy, but no luck. I decided to head on my way, with the babies tucked safe in the box, but I had no idea what I was going to do with them. We were stopping for McDonalds as I continued delivering my AVON brochures. I was talking with my mom on the cell phone, telling her about the squirrels and asking if she knew what to do when Maura piped up, "I think I saw the mommy squirrel in the tree, only she was dead or not moving." So, I turned around to be sure. We hung out in that parking lot for 45 minutes to make sure mommy squirrel didn't show up, but the freeway is right next to this road and there's busy Hudson Drive. I really don't think mommy was able to be around any longer or she wouldn't have left the babies.
Thank goodness for the Internet! I was able to find out exactly what to do. I tried to do the right thing and contact a "re-habber" which is a person who takes in wild baby animals and raises them until they're old enough to be on their own. However, no one has called me back. Again, thank goodness for the Internet because now it looks like I'm caring for them myself until they can be let loose in the back yard. We have a big back yard that's fenced in. Who knows..maybe they'll stay, but if not, there's a nice field between a few of the properties back there. At least they'll be grown enough to have a fighting chan ce.
I guess it's going to be a good experience for Mackenzie & Maura (me too!) We've named them "Sam" & "Elliot" after one of my favorite actors, Sam Elliot. I've posted some pictures below. According to my research, they're about 5 weeks old right now and they can't be released until they're about 5 months old. They can start having solid food when they're 8 weeks, but for now, they have to be formula fed (puppy milk formula) every three or four hours. I'm lucky to have a flexible schedule as an AVON Representative.
They have to be kept warm, too, so a bed has been made for them in a box with a lid (holes in top)and it's sitting on a heating pad on low. When they get bigger, they'll go into the dog cage, but for now, all they seem to do is sleep between feedings. They like to burrow & cuddle together in the pillow case. You use a pillow case or something smooth for covering because their toenails are so long (needed for climbing--they're tree squirrels). Towels or other types of material would get tangled in the loops.
I've posted some pictures below and also a video! I'll keep you posted on the journey! Talk about the UnExpected!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
8th Annual Jackson-Schneider Teddy Bear Drive Kick Off!
8th Annual Teddy Bear Drive
Donations Accepted Through March 21st
We invite you to participate in the 8th Annual Jackson-Schneider Teddy Bear Drive! Donations of NEW stuffed toys will benefit the Akron Children's Burn Center. The Burn Center can only accept new toys due to trying to maintain as sterile an environment as possible.
**Mackenzie's sister, Deanna, established the Teddy Bear Drive in 2002 as a way to say 'thank you' to the staff and to encourage patients on their get-well journey. We know from experience that recovering from this type of injury is a lengthy process. To date, our family has collected and donated more than 4,400 stuffed toys to Akron Children's Hospital Burn Center.
In 2008, we added to our list of items to donate....coloring books and crayons. These were a very welcome addition! (Thanks to your help, we've donated more than 500 coloring books & crayons to Akron Children's Hospital so far!)
******NEW THIS YEAR******
The Akron Children's Hospital Burn ICU welcomes patients from all over the state of Ohio, Pennsylvania and other nearby states. They not only treat children, but adults as well. This year, we'd like to add to our offerings a gift for those patients. If you would like to donate $1 towards the purchase of hand creams, please let me know. You can email me at avon4shari@aol.com. As an Independent AVON Sales Representative, I'll purchase as many hand creams as possible at my cost with your generous donations.
If you'd like to make a donation of a new stuffed toy, coloring books and crayons, or a cash donation, there are several ways to do so. You may contact me at spansies@aol.com and I'll make arrangements for pick up. You may also drop your donation (during office hours 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Office Phone (330) 928-4847) at Pilgrim Church, 130 Broad Blvd., Cuyahoga Falls. Please make sure to leave your name and address so that an acknowledgment can be sent.
Find us on Facebook! Annual Jackson-Schneider Teddy Bear Drive
Thank you in advance for your generous gift!
Sincerely,
Shari Schneider
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Poor little spider
This morning as I looked out the window, before walking Princess Amber, our dog, I saw the snow gently falling and thought to myself 'how pretty'. While outside with the dog, I still thought them pretty, even more so because I could see the individuality of each snowflake as it gently drifted to the ground.
As I continued my day and prepared to go out and deliver some of my AVON brochures to my customers, the roads were in decent shape and it really wasn't snowing that heavily. I actually enjoy this time to myself. I do love my driving time!
I walked up to the door of one of my customer's homes and there, crawling across the sidewalk, was this little, tiny spider. Personally, I really don't like spiders, but even I felt sorry for the little guy! So, I carefully stepped over him and didn't squish him. After all, his day looked hard enough.
You can find more information about me at the following sites:
AVON Blog
AVON Website
Akron Art Museum Examiner
Yahoo Contributor Network
As I continued my day and prepared to go out and deliver some of my AVON brochures to my customers, the roads were in decent shape and it really wasn't snowing that heavily. I actually enjoy this time to myself. I do love my driving time!
I walked up to the door of one of my customer's homes and there, crawling across the sidewalk, was this little, tiny spider. Personally, I really don't like spiders, but even I felt sorry for the little guy! So, I carefully stepped over him and didn't squish him. After all, his day looked hard enough.
You can find more information about me at the following sites:
AVON Blog
AVON Website
Akron Art Museum Examiner
Yahoo Contributor Network
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)