X&Y

Actually, I'm not exactly going to post the weekend topic here. The letter was X, and the word I chose was xenophobia / xenophilia. But, I felt it was a way too politically charged post with the current events as of late. I debated about whether to post it anyway, but decided against it this morning. If you are unfamiliar, Xenophobia/-philia is the fear (or love) of foreigners. For the record, I am neither. I'm also agnostic about immigration/emigration, that is to say I can't decide what I think is a wrong or a right stance for a country to take. I suppose it depends on that country. 

Like I said, too political. 

And we all know politics don't make friends. 

SO. 

Today's post is Y, which is for Yesterday. I said goodbye to my Sergeant yesterday. It was a trial run -- he won't be gone long -- but it sure felt like the real thing. And that's all I have to say about that. 

Forgive my brevity. I'm just not in an awesome mood today. I didn't get much sleep and, well, Gracie doesn't talk. 

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday, though! I'll be back tomorrow with some form of sarcastic wit that you'll find irresistible. 

So here's a song for the road. The Sarge and I love(d) Coldplay. Are you a fan of theirs? Have you heard this song before? What do you think??

W is for Wordpress.org

I hope I didn't build up your expectations about the W post lol. This is a strictly technical post!

This blog (as you may or may not notice) is hosted by blogger. I really like blogger because it's integrated well with my Google accounts, lots of people use GFC or actually have a blogger account, and I can attach a domain to it for free. 

But I really, REALLY like Wordpress. The problem is, the .COM Wordpress has tons of limitations and in some cases, ads. That really bugs me. Also, they want to charge me $13 just to MAP my domain, which blogger does for free. Which is dumb. I've considered just making a blogger template that looks like a Wordpress site, but the other reason I like Wordpress is that it is a bit more stable than Blogger. 

Recently, I acquired a new domain name for my Posh business. I want to create a Wordpress blog for it, but I want to use the .ORG rather than the .COM. Do any of you know anything about doing that? I'm totally clueless to the FTP process. I used to do it in middle school, but I had webpage builders and let's be honest... it's changed a bit in the past 20 years lol. Most of the tutorials are about one level higher than my comprehension. I need a basics blog. Maybe, when I figure it out, I'll write my own series! 

Who has experience? Who can help me?!

Do you prefer blogger or wordpress, and why? Have you moved from one to the other?

U is for Update and V is for Veneration

Well, this will be a quick, quick post because I have a "W" all lined up in my mind (which also means I'm caught up!).

The U is for update, which is an update on my 30 before 30.

1. Read 30 books. 
In April, I read...
The Kitchen House / Let's Just Pretend This Never Happened / 

2. Do at least one non-meal Pinterest craft every month. 
In April I took this pin as inpiration: 

So, I'm going to frame it and put these pictures on either side:

the first time the Sarge saw the (Pacific) ocean
at our first duty station in California

Our first time visiting the Atlantic ocean together
in Cocoa Beach, FL

12. Answer the "50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind". 
As of April, I have answered about one of these so.. yeah.. not much in the way of progress, but it's more than nothing!

19. Establish wills for myself and the Sarge. 
Sergeant J did his this month. So we're half way there.

21. Paint/finish the bathroom. 
YAY!! This one is actually done!! Read the post here: 

23. Buy a dress that makes me feel pretty.

26. Get promoted with Perfectly Posh. 
The goal is to get promoted to Pink Plus 3. I got promoted to Pink Plus 2 at the end of March and it was official April 10th(ish)! So yay!!

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And, since I don't have much time, the "V" for veneration will be short. 

But recently I've been really convicted about what takes precedence in my life, and what should. Veneration means to hold something in high esteem, or even to worship it. 

Jesus tells us that where our treasure is, our heart also is (Matt 6:21). Since in our culture time is money, it seems to me that where we spend our money and our time says a lot about what we value and what's important to us.

What do I spend my time and money on?

-The first thing I do when I wake up is often check my phone/facebook.
-I have be known to buy video games at full price because I want them as soon as they come out.
-Sometimes I go on App "shopping sprees", easily spending $10 or more on apps that I probably use one or two times. Not a very good steward!
-Often when I can't sleep, I "kill time" on the computer.

We are to be good stewards of what we've been given, including time. Time wasted on the things I listed is time NOT spent "binding" the words of God on my arms and forehead (or in my heart); it's time I'm not serving (or even thinking about) others. What is important to me? I mean... what is REALLY important to me? Not just in word, but in deed?

Am I proud of these things? NO. But I want it to be clear that I'm not just writing these types of posts to preach to you, I'm preaching to myself as well. My seminary's PhD program requires students to chronicle every hour of every day for three months. I'll bet that is a pretty eye opening exercise for people who have dedicated their "lives" to service to God and the Good News of the Gospel.

What do you venerate??