Writing to God: Week 2 & A Farewell to February Hodgepodge

Still...still...STILL.

Be still is your command.

Be still and... know.

In the stillness and the quiet is...YOU.

Linking up w/ Dawn for
Writing to God: 40 Days of Praying with My Pen

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1.  When were you last facing an ocean? Using just ONE word, describe how you felt as you faced that ocean. 
~ It's been a while since I last faced the ocean, but to describe how it made me feel in one word....FREE!

2. What are three sounds you hate to hear?
~ Any living thing, human or animal, crying in pain or fear.  A ringing phone in the middle of the night.  Whining.
  
3. This question comes to you courtesy of some real life friends. Hi real life friends! When you shop for yourself, do you try everything on in the store before buying or do you buy, try on at home, and then return what you don't like or what doesn't fit?
~ It completely depends on how I'm feeling that day, what I'm wearing, how much time I have, when I need the outfit.....if I'm tired or rushed I might not try stuff on.  If I'm wearing clothes that are a real pain to keep taking off and putting back on...not going to do it.  If I need the outfit for later that day.....I'll be trying it (and approximately 42 more outfits) on....and chances are that none of them will make me happy.

4. February 26th is National Pistachio Day...are you a fan of the little green nut? Do you use them in cooking and baking or prefer to eat them right out of the shell?
~ I don't like nuts of any kind.  Peanut butter is the only thing I will eat.

5. When did you last have to compromise with someone?  Were you happy to reach the compromise or slightly irritated it was necessary? 
~ Um, I'm married, have kids, work with kids, preside over the church council....I compromise all the time.  I don't mind and think it's a good thing unless it requires me to go against my core biblical beliefs...at which point there will be NO compromise.

6.  Have you ever written a letter to an elected official? Did you get a response?
~ I spent a summer in high school working away from home in the Pocono Mountains for the Youth Conservation Corps.  I would have been old enough the following year to return as a counselor/leader, but President Reagan cut funding for the program.  I wrote to him and also to my congressman, John Heinz (yes, Teresa Heinz-Kerry's first husband and the one who left her with oodles of $$$).  I got a form postcard back from the White House thanking me for my input and telling me that my opinion had been filed appropriately.  Yeah, we all know what that meant.  Sen. Heinz on the other hand, sent me a personal letter that he actually signed.  I still have it somewhere.

7. We 'March' into a new month at the end of this week...what's something on your March calendar guaranteed to make you smile?
~ Five days off work at Easter!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
~ So very, very glad the big storm yesterday and today turned out to be the storm that wasn't.  I have had more than enough winter at this point.  We've not had any snow days.  The arrival of the weather always seems to be such that the buses are already on the road or the kids are already at school and we have no choice but to continue.  I'm sick of ice, too.  We have a dirt parking lot at work and it ends up being a sheet of ice.  Last Friday we had a short period of flash freezing.  It didn't last long and there wasn't a lot of ice, but I managed to fall.  I landed on my hands and knees and did it ever hurt!  I drove that afternoon, though, and spent the evening with it propped up with a cool pack on it.  It's still sore and hurts like a bugger whenever I sit still for a while.  Since driving is what I do...that's quite a bit.  The range of motion just isn't there...thinking I may have to go see the doctor if it doesn't improve in the next couple of days.