Hi all, I hope you've had a good week. It's been quite a week for me - but a good one! So far this week, I've celebrated an anniversary, finished a draft of a writing project, and had my brain blown three times. Here's a rundown of the week:

1. Rick and I celebrated our 15th anniversary yesterday! Yep, that's a picture of us on the big day. It's hard to believe it's been that long, or that we're old enough to have been married that long! But we have, and we've come a long way even if we don't have kids. We've built a home, built careers, are building our personal endeavors (his website design and my writing), have our 3 birds, and are lucky that both of our families are still alive and nearby. It's been a great journey and we look forward to many more years. And as part of celebrating our anniversary ...

2. We saw Star Trek Into Darkness today. Wow. Completely unbelievable and definitely outdid the last movie. A must see. At the risk of being lambasted, I'll be bold enough to say it's better than Iron Man 3. I completely trust J.J. Abrams with Star Wars now. Mine = blow. I don't want to give anything away, but I'll give you this advice if you haven't seen it yet: see Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn if you haven't recently. Yea, there are "references." It's amazing how they can change the history of that franchise the way they did and things are the same, and yet not. It was beyond phenomenal. Go see it. On the big screen. Now.

3. I ask for your prayers. An opportunity has opened up to me, and I ask that you pray for the Lord to give me favor in achieving it. It would be a tremendous blessing for me and Rick. I can't say too much about it now, but if it works out then you'll hear all about it. It may be a while before we know, but hey, we can use all the prayer power we can get!

4. Time for my season finale roundup! The season finales of Arrow and Supernatural ran Wednesday night and again, mind = blow. They were amazing. Here's a short recap of my impression of each season:

Arrow - If you aren't watching this show, you should be. They hit the ground running and never let up. No dull character development episodes in this season - it's all action, and the combat scenes are amazing. Then again, Oliver Queen better be able to throw it down, because it takes a lot of guts to go against people with guns (especially one with the nickname "Deadshot") with a bow and arrow - yet he does, and holds his own impressively. For all of you that thought The Green Arrow was a "minor" DC Character, I can assure you that he can hold his own and proves it well through this series. The finale was no exception, and in fact had it's share of surprises that shouldn't have been surprises, but they signs that these "red herrings" were planted were very subtle. Kudos to the writers, producers, cast, crew, and everybody involved for making this a "must see" show in my home and many others every week. I'll even go so far as to say that I like Arrow better than I liked Smallville. Yea, it's that good.  

Supernatural - I was glad to see the Winchesters get back to angels and demons this season. That whole thing with the leviathans and monsters just - wasn't as good. They're okay in bits and pieces throughout the season, but I didn't care for it as a central focus. Thankfully, they got back to basics this season and it was good to see. They definitely upped the ante with the demon tablet and the whole "closing the gates of hell" theme. Then an angel tablet pops up and that adds a dimension that has this show back to what it's meant to be. I did miss Bobby this season, but I think they forged on in his absence quite well, all things considered (and I thought Garth taking Bobby's place was weirdly appropriate. I wish we had seen more of that. He's goofy, but I think his character is a good balance to Sam and Dean's kicking a** and taking names approach - I mean, somebody needs to take the brainiac approach to the whole demon hunting thing, right? Anyway, well done and glad to see them getting back to basics, although that cliffhanger - wow! OMG. What a mess. Can't wait to see how they get out of THIS one.

So now it's all about summer reruns. Good for folks that need to for catching up. And I guess I have plenty to keep me busy because ...

5. I finished the rough draft of Incursion, my sci-fi novella-in-progress, Monday night. No joke, folks, I wrote 12 chapters plus a prologue and epilogue in 13 days. I accomplished this feat because I kept waking up in the middle of the night with ideas for it, and this progressed into insomnia. Yea, the fun of being a writer, especially one with a full time job. I wrote on lunch hours. I wrote at night. I wrote on weekends. And I got the draft done in record time because I do need to sleep occasionally. So this summer's project will be getting that novella shaped up and ready to self publish, hopefully this fall. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

6. We managed to get our satellite bill down and upgraded our Internet speed. Because we realized that we're online much more than we are behind the boob tube, so to speak, and how we spend our $$$ needs to reflect that.

7. I don't know now many of you are familiar with Disco the Parakeet, but he was on the Take Two segment on The Today Show this morning at 9 a.m. Go Disco! Bird to your mother! What an awesome keet. He's the same age as Ollie and we love him here. Look up Miss Jumpin Jude on You Tube for his videos. You'll love it. He's one great avian talent!

8. And finally, we're gearing up for a birthday here. Chloe's birthday will be Monday, May 20th! Actually, we celebrate it then because that's the date we "adopted" her (or as our bird friends like to say on Twitter, it's her "Gotcha Day"). She's 10, but it'll be three years since we adopted her. What a sweet little hen! We love you, Chloe! Hen power!

So it's been a busy week, but all in a good way. I'll take it. I hope you've had a great week as well. Happy Friday to you, and I hope you have a great weekend.

Bye!

And do it like I'm 2 years old, because I absolutely don't get it. That must be one train I missed.

So Rick's birthday is tomorrow and he isn't happy about turning 40. His mother's birthday is today, and she's none too happy about being 70. Seems to me a lot of people freak out about their age. I'll be the first to agree that getting a year older is pretty useless after you hit 21, but it continues to happen the same time every year. The only way to stop it is to die and, well, that's just not an acceptable alternative if you ask me.

I remember how puzzled people were when I turned 30 and didn't seem disturbed. "Sherri," they would say, "you're in your 30's now. Don't you think it's time to start making things happen?" Of course, it did seem my life was in a rut, but I knew what I was working toward and refused to get frustrated because I turned another decade and it didn't magically fall into place when I blew out the candles. And believe me, when I did  buy a new car and we built a new home in the following 2 years, those same people were saying "whoa, what the hell are you doing?" Ah ha. So it was an age thing, eh?

I learned then people will yak at you about making things happen, but if you're happy with what you've got then they're just blowing hot air. And we put way too much emphasis on age in regard to these things. Why do you have to thus and such by a certain age? Says who? The last time I read the 10 Commandments they didn't say "thou shalt do 'x' by age 30, 'y' by age 40, 'z' by age 50 ..." Laugh it up because it sounds silly, but apparantly we have a whole lot of people living by self imposed commandments just like that.

The thing I don't get is why be bothered? I mean, you can't do anything about it. And frankly on those occasions when I do look back, I'm kind of amazed at the amount of people I've met, things I've learned, and experiences I've had. It's amazing to think of how much has crossed my path. Perhaps it's my temperament, but instead of looking back wistfully, I usually look back and say "wow, that was good and look at how far I've come! Who would have thought?" Or if it's bad I say "praise God I not only lived through that, but look at all I learned from it and what the Lord helped me make of it."

Frankly, I wouldn't go back. Why do it? Middle school was hell. High school was ok but there was way too much angst. College was great, but I was still dependent on my parents and had that "itch" to establish myself - I felt a bit immature. And my 20's were WAY too much of a learning curve. They were good, but like anyone starting out there were plenty of overly-emotional reactions and not good decisions along the way that lead to the wisdom I use now. My boss calls such things "historical knowledge." It might not sound flattering to those purturbed by the DOB on their drivers license, but I think it's an accurate term.

Why would you want to give up what you've learned? Why would you want to give up a lifetime of growth and achievement? Why would you want to give up the gifts the Lord has  helped you work up to so you can go back to experiences of yesterday and struggles you've already overcome? I just don't get it. Sure, I'd like the body I had at 23 - but frankly, if it's be a size 4 again and have those awful struggles with my sinuses and allergies or be a size 8-10 and outgrown from alot of that struggle and agony to only battle my sinuses occasionally and not nearly as much as I used to, well, I'll take too much booty in the pants and fewer sick days, thank you very much.
 
Maybe it's because it seems that everywhere I go, I'm always the youngest person around. That has been an issue my whole life. Even now, I'm the youngest person on my staff and folks, I'll be 37 next Sunday. Maybe it's my temperament. I'm one of those types that has always felt that the best time of my life is the time I'm in (Dad thinks the same way). Or maybe I'm just thankful for what the Lord has given me and excited about where He's leading. Or all of the above. I don't know.

"Who you were, who you are, and who you will be, will always be with you." Q said that to Captain Picard in the series finale of Star Trek - The Next Generation. So it is, and so it will be as we march along, taking life one day at a time. The question is, do you view time as a companion or as a villian? The choice is yours.

That's all today. I wish my husband, Rick, a very happy birthday tomorrow. And don't worry, we won't do the "Lordy lordy, guess who's 40" thing either. In fact, he has my permission to ask anybody that says that if they're brain damaged because that's just unbelievably and totally unexcusably lame. 

Take care all and have a great week.

Bye!