HOTEL HORROR

I am sure we all enter hotels the same way...

1.  luggage containing our clothes
2.  "mummy sleeping bag"

(so none of ME touches the bed, sheets, pillow, etc)

3. luggage containing the bleach, lysol, gloves, and CSI black light....

I had a great opportunity to join Jeff on one of his trial.

He gets to stay in NICE hotels.

BUT....that just means..."high priced" germs and yuck!

As Jeff was heading back to trial after New Year's...we made the LAST MINUTE decision for me to go with him.

Since I packed in 5 minutes...

I did not have time to pack my "hotel lounge wear"

THE HORROR:

After our drive and my large sweet tea, I needed to use the restroom.

Everything looked fine through my trifocals...so I did not do my magnifying glass inspection.

I used lamaze breathing and mental chants..

"everything is clean and sterile...I will be fine..."

I flushed the toilet....

The flush was so powerful, the toilet water rushed into the bowl with "fire hose" force.

I did not have time to turn around before...

I went in to shock and catatonic state......

Classic MAZ in solitude....

For about 14 years, I have been wanting to set aside time, either at the end of the year or beginning of the year, to organize my thoughts, journal prayers and praises, and just to simply set my mind, heart and soul on the path that God has provided.

I have heard this suggestion/advice a million times.
"Go to the beach, sit in the quiet ocean breeze..."
or "enjoy the quiet nature of the woods...."

Last time I was at the beach.....we were having so much fun...
I forgot about carving out a "planning time"
Check out how much fun we had!

Last time I was in the woods.....

Nature was so distracting.....I did not have quiet "planning time"

God always knows what we need and when we need it!!

God provided me with a wonderful couple of days of alone and quiet time....
free from nature distractions....free from fun distractions....

He sent me to Birmingham, Alabama!!
and my only view was the "hustle and bustle" of life...

I would like to share just one of several issues that God planned for my study...

SUBMISSION

"WHAT?".....I know!

I only said the "submission" part of my wedding vows because it was hard enough to find a preacher to marry us at the airport.....

if I had said "drop that submit phrase" I think Jeff and the pastor would have put me in therapy!

HOWEVER....

I have now found freedom in submission: 

*It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way...

oh ho ho!!! I like that! I need to get my own way and it is exhausting!

*Submission can free us so that we can distinguish between genuine issues and stubborn self-will...

heavy weights of years of confusion start to fall off....

*Best way to handle most matters of submission is to say nothing...

SILENCE!! key to lasting peace in most matters!

*Self-denial is the foundation for submission, it saves us from self-indulgence.....

*If you love your spouse, you will live in consideration of their needs. You will be willing to give in to them. You will be free to regard them as more important than your own needs. You will be able to regard your children as more important then your own needs!

WAIT.....

freedom

putting others first

where is the part of the definition that makes me miserable and grumpy because I HAVE to do what others want instead of what I want.....

It wasn't there....

I found that submission is an act of love....denying yourself....

Beautiful!

I may post about some of my other adventures this week:

MAZ, REPENT! means whaaaaat?

If MAZ was in the audience during the Sermon on the Mount...

How MAZ...the workaholic, busy body finds that she is LAZY.....

(submission info found in Bible.. and book, Celebration of Discipline)

There are no stupid questions......

You have heard the saying "there are no stupid questions...".


Who said that? and who is spreading it around?

If you are a parent, teacher, boss....anybody that gets asked questions....
YOU have experienced the stupid questions!!

The number one stupid question in my house..
"where is _________ (fill in the blank with jack/max/dad) ?"

This might not be that stupid of a question if we had more than one level to search.
This might not be that stupid of a question if we had trap doors, spinning bookcases, or even easy access to an attic....

BUT
 when I can't even lie down in the kitchen because it isn't wide enough..
(what? you don't lie down while waiting on the oven to preheat?)
when I get a glimpse of death every time I pull down the attic ladder.....
when I am 4 steps from any room in the house.....

It is not EVEN a "search" to find another member of the family!!

There ARE stupid questions AND lazy asses!

2 new hobbies and Max drops his jaw

I am a dancing machine!! 

If music is playing, it is all I can do to not start dancing.

I finally found a video game to which I am becoming addicted!!

Max (having a high score) begged me  to "play" him in Just Dance 3.

We attempted a Brittany Spears song.

I was completely lost with the.....weird moves...

BUT THEN...

we played the Apache Jump On It by Sugar Hill Gang..

I have done that dance many times!!

Max's jaw dropped to the ground!

I blew him away with my moves (and score)...

"well, you were a cheerleader...right?"

"NO!!!!"  (I was not the cheerleader type!)

"well, you did twirl the flag"  (I was in the color guard for a year)

For those of you not familiar with the dance game...

You dance exactly like the dude on the game...

Kinect "sees" your every move.

Doing the EXACT moves, keeping rhythm, and keeping up with the dude earns you points!! 

We also did Boogie Wonderland...

I got all my stars on that one!!!

I wasn't that great on the last few songs...

I kept going the wrong way and I was always a few steps behind.

When I accidently slapped Max (while dancing), he said..

"now you are dancing like you twirled the flag!"

You see...I was only in the color guard one year because I drove the band director crazy. 

I don't know my right from my left....

the group would be twirling one way and I was always twirling the opposite!!

So if you haven't guessed...Just Dance 3 has become my new  #1 hobby...

Hobby #2 (as in the title of my blog)???

WELLLLL

let me start by telling you how much I love puzzles!

I love finding the pieces and putting them in the correct space.

I love figuring out the word to answer a clue...and putting it in the correct space.

I also love tetris!! putting the different block patterns in the correct space.

So hobby #2...

spreadsheets...

I KNOW!!!

you people that are stuck behind a computer all day....doing spreadsheets..

I envy you!!

There is nothing like the feeling of taking info and putting it in the correct space and then looking at all the GREAT ORGANIZATION!!!

HEY!!! I wonder if I could organize my dance moves and songs into a spreadsheet??

or chores

or dinner ideas

or arguments with Jeff

or grocery list

or.....

A Christmas Visit....

We were so excited to take a non traditional Christmas vacation!!

We have counted down the days til we could go to Nashville to see......

NO....not Cooter's Dukes of Hazard Museum

...although it was free....and weird! I was intrigued!!

so was Jeff.....

(kidding...the pic was my idea)

YES....we were there for a Ziegenhorn family reunion....

cousin (not a brother), brother, Jeff, brother

Jack and Max are growing their hair long....while they can!

HOWEVER....even though we have a blast with all the cousins and their kids...

...that STILL wasn't OUR most exciting reason...

Around 30 of us gathered at the Wild Horse Saloon for dinner, dancing, pool, air hockey, etc...

Since we are obviously the best line dancers in the world...and I have the best fashion sense,

I believe we will be asked to go professional!!

I had a blast singing "I wanna be sedated" (Ramones) at the original Grand Ole Opry....

but even THAT wasn't the most exciting reason for our visit....

Spending a ton of money to see colorful Disney Ice sculptures IN NASHVILLE and sliding down a 20 foot ice slide was a once in a lifetime experience......

BUT...still not the most exciting reason for our visit...

We loved our 3 fun filled days in Nashville...and love each of the reunited family members...

THE MOST EXCITING???

....we were thrilled to be able to finally meet and hold our new nephew...

Kidd Ziegenhorn!!

Kidd was so much fun!! and so cute!! He loved his Tennessee cousins!!!

I thought I might be forming an AUNT MARGARET bond, but then he opened our Christmas gift

With this look he was able to communicate:

"....really?...clothes for Christmas?....did they even win a game this year?"

I whispered to him that it was Uncle Jeff that insisted on the Memphis jersey....I would have bought him a drum set...or pony....

He forgave me and shot me a smile!

As I settled down to sleep in my in-laws attic...(not in Nashville anymore)

I thought about Christmas. 

I looked out of my sleeping bag...

WOW! A visit from the Christmas Angel!!....

THEN I heard a sudden noise and looked to my left....

Adam Sandler?

You never know what you will find in someone's attic...

Adam Sandler....Waterboy...

Then I drifted off to sleep with quotes from Adam Sandler movies dancing in my head.....

again, Merry Christmas....

This is for my family....

Thank you for putting up with me.....especially during the holidays!

I found a way to show you the joy that I just can't seem to express during the holiday season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Watch out for the driver taking pics!

(some of you have not figured it out yet: click on pics to see better)

Last week, I added some more excitement to my life. Jeff and my closest friends are starting to think I have a real problem.....

needing to rearrange my house and tear down walls or tear up floors.

Since I couldn't keep myself busy enough with teaching.....

I started "working". 

I don't have a permanent job..... yet. I am just doing contract work. 

Last week was SOOOO exciting and fun!!

I want to share a little of my adventure with you!!

As you all know, Jeff and I have had one car for about a year.

It has not really been a problem...with him traveling and me home schooling...

We plan to get another car once I am permanently working.....

Jeff wants a truck. I would rather have a smart car....boys can run along behind us..

Since Jeff will probably win this argument.....I found a truck I would love.....

(please click on music below for awesome viewing of the above pic)

We had a few EARLY mornings last week....taking Jeff to work before the city woke....

We got behind a construction worker and I was amused by his license plate "ZZZZZ".

He was warning me "when you are out and driving around town at 6am......you will be in a sleep state by 6:30pm!"

On one adventure, I saw this next item and instantly thought of my sister, Polly!

I might have offered the man some money so that I could give her this for Christmas....

BUT she doesn't find "gas" as humorous as I do....

I love it when I pass buses and all the kids look "thrilled".  They are staring out the windows like they are in jail....

After seeing the message on the back of the bus, I was confused at how sad they looked. They were headed to college! I thought I was young when I started college at 17yrs.....

They must have not realized that they would be through before they turned 12!

I was not able to get a pic of the last thing that interested me this week...

A boy of about the age of 8 or 9 was shopping with his parents in Target.

He was dressed as an elf.

The overly grown young boy looked exactly like this!.......poor kid!

Sometimes I worry about my kids.....I don't want people to look at my boys and say

"poor kids"...

Now that I plan to work AND home school.....I worried that two working parents could not pull off home schooling...

We went to see one of Max's doctors this week. Both her and her husband work...AND home school their kids!

If doctors can do it...so can we...

Then I worried that my kids would be "neglected" without "momma" nagging them through every moment of life (ha ha).....

 I took a pic of my FABULOUS kids before church this morning....

They are definitely independent individuals and are gonna be FINE!

This is my last post until after Christmas!!
Merry Christmas and if I don't come back soon...

Happy New Year!!