We have slept two nights now without the fan on over the bed, and turned down the thermostat. We went to bed around 8:30PM last night (as usual most nights) and although I did awaken a couple times during the night, thanks to all the water I drink, I could not believe when I opened my eyes this morning that it was 5:55AM. Yes - almost 6AM! Usually that only happens when I stay up much later than normal. So - what do you think? Is it no fan and cooler temps helping us sleep later? Why don't you try it and let me know how it works for you? Yes, hubby turned it back up when he got up - and it's been off for over an hour now, trying to reach the new temperature reset. Interesting, huh? We won't have a ceiling fan at the hotel so that could be a test as well - although we will have a different mattress and pillow - and those do also make a difference.
Speaking of our hotel, I looked it up again last night and the one I chose shows it does have an enclosed patio. It's only one-story so that was a given. But to have a little patio to go out and sit in (hopefully not a lot of smoke (there is fire north of that area) and mosquitos) and enjoy. I think it is called 'deluxe king'. The 'luxury king' has a 2-person jacuzzi. Yeah, we are past that stage. LOL
I think I have become my mother. I know I did this a few years ago and laughed about it. And now I have done it again. The sun has burned some of my plants and I am tired of buying plants to have them burn up within a very short time. You know where I am going with this, don't you! Yes, I went to Michael's yesterday and I bought artificial vines/flowers to put in three of my pots. Dang! Those artificial plants are expensive! I had a few more, but when I looked at the price, I shut that thought down real quick! This one that I really like - I had picked up two of them, thinking it would look great in the pot by the garage - it was $19.99 EACH!! I only got one cause I had a 30% off coupon but only for one. I spread it out and it looks fine. The other two pots just got a 'vine' of sorts and after spreading them out, they look fine. I'm done with trying to do real plants there. I'm about to he point of ripping everything out and just putting artificial plants in - it sure would save on my time watering, right? Just replace them every six months with seasonal flowers. Mother planted artificial plants a lot.
We are going to church this morning and then will come home and start thinking what we want to take on the trip. We went to Sam's Club yesterday to pick up a few snacks to take. NEVER go to Sam's Club to pick up snacks. $200+ later, we walked out. No meat. No cereal. Nothing really but snacks, water, and protein. And then we went to Denny's for dinner.
I was hungry, I thought, so we went to Denny's and I got the Mama's fried chicken salad my son had told me about. It really is worth getting it. I filled up fast and could only eat half of it and since I hadn't put dressing on all of it, brought it home to finish up for lunch today. It was good. Not like my mama's fried chicken, but it did have flavor and was tasty. I would give that a 10 for effort. And I would order it again. Protein and veggies - all good. I don't need 'foo-foo' stuff thrown in a salad. Just give me the basics - and fried chicken - and I'm good to go.
Have you ever had life roll along smoothly and you feel like you have it all together and then boom! You do something you knew your shouldn't do, and yet, you did it anyway? Yeah... not going into details; it's between God and I. But, I have prayed a prayer this morning that is scary. I wonder if you have ever felt this way and knew you needed to break a bad habit or you needed to change a behavior and found you can not do it on your own. You need help in getting it behind you. Ever been there? Well, as I read this morning, the thought has come to me, first of all, that fasting will help with 'besetting sins' (as they are called) but one more thing is needed. Desperation.
How badly do you want to be free of what is dragging you down in life? A besetting sin. Or an irritation. Or a bad habit. Or even an outright sin. What do you want out of your life to make you a better person? Ponder that for a moment. Unfortunately, I can think of a few things I need to carve out of my attitude, behavior, and life, but I can only deal with one at a time. But in doing that, I am desperate to change. I want to be a better person. I want to be more God-centered and less self-centered. Does that make sense? And that has caused me to pray this morning,....
"Lord, make me desperate for You."
It's a scary thing to pray, for you don't know what God will allow to make that happen. But I want to change. I want to be more Christ-like and less me-like. I want Christ living in me to be seen wherever I am - not just as church. Does that make sense? So I am praying that God will make me desperate for Him, for when I am desperate for Him, my thoughts are on Him, my prayers are frequent, my life is open to whatever He wants to do with it. Break habits I have formed. Break from me bad attitudes.
"Break my heart for what breaks Yours."
And I know my tears fall as I pray that prayer. Even unknowing situations, tears will fall, knowing that His heart is breaking for His children as well. His heart breaks for you. I pray for my children daily and more frequently than that! But when was the last time I prayed for them and cried over them? I admit, it has been awhile. I have gotten complacent. And I wonder why life is as it is.
Why don't you think about taking this journey into God with me.... would you pray that He would make you desperate for Him? Would you ask Him to break your heart for what breaks His?
I guarantee you, if you will pray even one of those prayers, you will change. You will look at things differently. You will find yourself whispering prayers for others. The walls we have built up around us to protect us from feeling.... will come falling down. And that is a good thing.
I'm excited to see what God will do with me while we are gone. I do want to hit some antique shops while out of town, but I am also ready to be open and spent upon Jesus during my times with Him. No distractions, just Jesus. And that is why I pray for desperation. I want to be like Jesus.
Blessings!
