It's a Beautiful Day in the neighborhood!

Quote for the day! "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."-- Mother Teresa

Okay, today is going pretty *FANTASTIC* for me, as you can probably tell by my lack of blogging. Mondays are my least favorite day of the week (I know, I am pretty darn unique) but today has gone well.

Big D is out of the office (who I am liking more in the past few months than I have in the past few years.) so I have more work (yay) and the sun is finally shining.

No good news on the furniture. It rained like CRAZZZY this weekend, and well...Nick doesn't like paint fumes....but that is a good thing, because one of our sub contractors GAVE me 2 gallons of primer and 2 gallons of paint. It really pays to be nice to everyone.(not as though I ever thought I could use their help with anything, but you know my philosophy) So, that is saving my quite a few pennies, and hopefully the weather will be just as wonderful this weekend as it is today!

Okay, I have no *TOPIC* to write about, so this is some rather pointless ramblings, but -hey they are small things that have made me happy, so-I thought I'd share. Aww, no big deal. You don't have to thank me!

Andrea went to her dad's house over the weekend. I was always super close with Andreas grandmother from her dad's side, but after 4 years of heartbreak I realized that she IS Andrea's fathers Mother, and that she will take his side and is not REALLY as loyal to me as I thought she was. She isn't a complete backstabber, but you know how it goes. Some mothers think their sons can do no wrong, and well...Andrea's dad...you get the point. I was constantly critiqued and surveyed, and I never measured up. Especially after I took him to court. All the friendship and talks and favors we did for each other went right out the window at that time. Hey, but loyalty is loyalty. And I have a lot more respect to someone who can only be loyal to ONE person at a time, instead of no one EVER. We were close, but that is her BABY. I am loyal to Andrea, but hopefully I will still be able to decipher between right and wrong. Who knows...I doubt it.

Anywho.... I waited and waited for Her to meet me with Andrea. She was unusually late. She showed up with my favorite ice cream in cups, and we all sat in the parking lot and ate icecream. She told me, for the first time "I am very happy that Andrea has you as a mother. I see you in her all of the time, and I am very proud of the way you have raised her." This was really a great thing for me to hear. As soon as I stopped searching and trying to win her approval, and just doing what I needed to do.....I was rewarded. A compliment isn't necessary. I do not validate my self -worth based on others opinions or compliments, but sometimes.... to hear one, is like someone stroking your heart,and it makes you childishly happy. I appreciated that.

Today at work, one of my "superiors" that I joke around with a lot, and feel pretty comfortable being myself around, stopped me as I was walking my his office. He said "I meant to tell you Friday, but you had already left, that you did a great job on the meeting minutes that Robin gave to you. I just wanted you to know that".That made me happy as well. Maybe I am not invisible (ha ha) at all. Maybe I will be given more responsibilities, and prove myself to be more than just a perky face to "LIVEN UP" the office setting (as it was once put) and I can prove that " I may not be the brightest bulb in the socket, but I ain't (ha ha-ever use that word..okay?) burnt out either! I made sure to tell my boss, that I am pretty darn good at those meeting minutes. (nothing wrong with tooting your own horn every once in a while) and he laughed and agreed.

Nick cooked dinner last night and my mother and Aunt came over to visit Andrea for a little while. I purchased a new cushion thingy (kinda like a feather bed) for Andreas bed and we watched The Nanny Diaries (kinda cute) and fell asleep together. It was a pretty good night!

She woke up in a great mood this morning, and even though I was 15 minutes late, I still managed to make it in before the boss's.

I couldn't be happier today.

Sometimes it's just the LITTLE THINGS that you have to find joy in, if you want to make everyday count.I believe after I think this way for a while, everything in life may really start to seem to fit together.

I am grateful that the Lord shows us this, but most of all..I am grateful for the times when my eyes are open enough to see them, and my ears are listening to his directions!

I know I am being quite boring, sorry :(