Green Movie Shop at http://www.greenmovieshop.com

I’ve been saying that I would post something about this website on my blog for some time now. If only for the reason to protect someone else from purchasing from them and receiving a less than quality item, or from returning your item and never receiving your refund. This is what happened to us, and now 8 months later we have given up, returned our less than quality purchase, and never received a penny back of our $100 purchase. Thus, we ate $100 for our son’s 2010 Christmas gift.

As if it weren’t enough that his grandparents wanted to buy him a Walker Texas Ranger Boxed set for Christmas, they also gave us the money and asked us to search the internet and purchase it for him. We searched for the set and because we were spending someone elses money that they saved up over a 3 month time frame (because they are elderly and have a limited income), we attempted to save them some and purchase the Walker set from a place that seemed to have great prices.

When we received our DVD set and our son began watching it, he noticed that throughout the movies there was a “Hallmark” channel logo that would occasionally show up at the bottom of the screen.  Other channels also showed up at times, and there were times that some of the DVD’s wouldn’t even play - not on the DVD player, not on the computer.  We contacted Green Movie Shop and they asked us to please try the DVD’s in the computer – but that did not work either.

After much going back and forth – with a place that does not have a phone number or address as a contact on their site, we requested a refund and they agreed.  They gave us specific instructions regarding how to ship the item back, I shipped it back and tracked it to the border of the US, but once it got into Canada there is no guaranteed tracking after that, in other words, they can say they never received it – which is what originally happened to us. We waited 8 weeks for them to ‘see’ if they got it, and had to write back just to ‘see’ if they found it yet. Then after the 8 weeks, they told us they needed “Proof” that we sent it. I sent proof of our receipt and tracking information and they didn’t respond for another 3 weeks.

Needless to say they said they were finally going to issue us our refund. It’s been months, endless emails, promises that they’d call us, and nothing.  We’ve given up.

For additional information we have exchanged 32 emails with them since Dec 2010. We have received correspondence from 7 different email addresses and 3  different people such as “Mike”, “Bryan” or ”The manager.”

Compelling thought: Trust me, you don’t want to purchase from this website. Pay a little extra and deal with a place that is stateside and that you can reach by phone anytime you’d like to reach customer service! I’d love to hear if anyone has experienced the same issues with this company, or even better would love to hear if my blog post stopped you from having a nightmarish encounter with this company.

The Bull Pen Tonight – You’re Not Gonna Believe This!

If anyone had asked me what I’d be doing today I would have never though I’d be saying this.  I spent two and a half hours of my night in the pastures driving a Kubota, my 12 year old riding her horse, with our neighbor (Also riding her horse) rounding up the bulls and moving them into the pastures.  At one point, one of the bulls – an injured bull – was impossible to round the way we wanted him.  This was the one that took 2 hours.  He managed his way deep into the woods and into the creek, at which time my neighbor threw me the whip from the other side of the creek and ordered me to climb down the embankment and whip the bull’s behind while she and my M and their horses and dogs chased the bull out of the creek and into the pasture.  So I did and let me just say for the record, the whip wasn’t quite long enough.  Being fifteen feet from an angry, hurt bull is not my cup of tea… in fact… my cup of tea is warm pajama’s and a warm cup of tea!

None the less,  If anyone would have told me that I would leave my horrible day at work and spend it creekside whipping a frenzied bull into submission, I’d have looked at them and told them they had lost their mind and were insane.  Still… they would have had one up on me and won the bet!

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Needless to say, we did get the bull out of the creek and into the pasture, thanks to my mad whipping skills … Really – that is what got him to run out…. only to get him into the pasture and into a fight with another angry bull who fought him and chased him back into the woods.

The story doesn’t end there…. tomorrow morning at six A.M. we will be back in the woods rounding up the bull again with additional man power, horses, me and my Kubota and my M on her horse.  Now THATS the way to start a great day before heading in to work! I cannot wait!

A Moving Post by a Fellow Classmate who Lives with CP

In the course of my studies, a particular individual continues to move me with his insight. Part of our assignment this week was to identify ways that society accommodates handicapped individuals. This post that he wrote on this assignment brought me to tears, not because of pity or sadness, but because of the way I am inspired and quieted. I hope that you too will find a place in your life in which his words can touch that place and cause you to make a change in yourself, in your world – because that is what people who bring inspiration do. They make extraordinary moments out of the ordinary and mundane things in life and cause us to become better just as we are! Here is his post:

Title: Leading the Accommodating Life With CP. By E.C.

 “I live with the challenges of a developmental disability that I’ve partnered with since the age of two. Let me just admit that I don’t get out too much, so I don’t think I’ll be much use for reporting on the actual facilities available to me. However, I will share a few personal examples of accommodations that I use on a daily basis. The first one comes in the very cutting-edge offering of educating myself by means of the world wide web. I truly believe that this degree is going to one day become an impressive tool that can enrich my life and the lives of others in the most profound sense of the word. I am learning skills today that can be used in the future and I never lose sight of my goals to provide care, support, and power to populations who seldom receive the notice and attention due them. Around the house, the trim along the wall of the hallway, jutting slightly outward and providing a firm indentation that I can grasp easily, makes a crutch less existence a tangible reality. When I shower, sturdy bars made of re-enforced metals, help me to achieve an astounding level of independence. One slip or mishap could be troublesome, but I am able to engage in a comfortable and safe method of self-care all on my own. Though unable to drive, I have a developed an extensive support network where transportation morphs from complex problem to interesting outing with little cause for regret. I even consider my assertive personality advantageous because not being afraid to get help when and where I need it most can be a real source of difference making for my quality of living. A final kind of accommodation of mine comes from my spirituality and sense of purpose beyond that of this earth. I believe God created me uniquely and with great and miraculous intent, thus I am able to remain positive and optimistic even when the situation seems tense and foreboding. Perfection is not possible, but if you motivated enough and put your “two cents” and then some to work, you can get closer to the ideal life-style than you ever imagined.”

I have never had a single day in my life in which I had to consider how ”the trim along the wall of the hallway, jutting slightly outward and providing a firm indentation that I can grasp easily, makes a crutch less existence a tangible reality.”  To think that I have never had to experience the outlook of my day from this perspective is humbling. To hear how he can embrace his life and manage to inspire others makes him more of a person than I think I will ever be.

Compelling thought: I think his words say it all.

The Reality of God…Brings Hope to the Hopeless

Someone asked me the other day, “Was there a point in your life in which you realized without a doubt, that no matter what anyone said or did, you were convinced forever that God is real?”

The defining moment in my life in which I realized that God was undoubtedly real was when my mother took her last dying breaths in my arms and for the first moment in my life … choked up and alone… I realized that I had God’s full attention and felt peace amidst the tears – and I was not alone.  I realized there was no-one in the world at that time that was more important to Him than mom and my devastation. His full attention was on the loss that was happening in that room as He took my mother from her sickly state and she died. 

For the first time in my life I felt that I had God’s full attention and that his full attention was cradling my heart and tenderly calling my mother who was calm, peaceful, looking to the ceiling and reaching with her arms toward heaven.  There will never be another day of my life in which I will doubt whether God is real or whether there is hope beyond this life. There will never be another day of my life in which I will not believe that God always, always, always cradles my heart in the palm of His hand, and protects my heart and my life with the protection of an all-encompassing Savior who loves and cherishes me through every good and bad moment in my life.

So let me ask this: Was there a point in your life in which you realized without a doubt, that no matter what anyone said or did, you were convinced forever that God is real?”

Learning to Cherish the Comfort… in Loss

Written By: Ursula J. Wright 

I have just dropped the children off at school and returned home to a load of should do’s and should have been done’s.  As I walk into my quiet house I am painfully reminded that just a year ago, my house was bustling with home schooling children and my mother who was very ill. Our children – four of them, are now all attending public school, and just 8 months ago, my mother went home to meet her Lord.

 I find loneliness in my heart, for what was and for what will be.  I find sadness that my mother is now gone. This morning I have the time to sit with her and have a hot cup of tea — like we used to do on cold mornings back in my hometown of Connecticut.  Thoughts of her slowly invade my heart, and as I make my hot tea to start my morning,  I find that instead of a painful cry in my heart for my losses today, I am reminded of the comfort that my mom still brings to my heart. 

 I open the cupboard, and I see to the side her favorite teacups that she used in the morning for her coffee or hot tea.  Sometimes I’d take some hot tea to her because she was too sick to get out of bed.  She is no longer sick and in pain, but is seated in the heavenly realm enjoying a company that carried her through the weariness of life. I find myself thanking God for His provision over her body as I pour my cup of tea, and thank him for the years of hot tea and conversation that brought me such warmth.

 At the kitchen table, I find a pile of towels awaiting my attention.  I sit with my hot tea (in my mother’s tea cup), and begin to fold them. I remember how the hot towels were my mother’s comfort to fold no matter the season. Her sickness always left her with poor circulation and cold extremities. As I fumble through folding, somehow I can’t seem to find frustration anymore. I suddenly find that I can take comfort in the joy God is granting me in my remembrance of the small things that bring comfort.  One by one the towels are folded, and the last one is my mothers.  A large white towel with pink miniature hearts along the fold.  Her favorite color was pink and her collections of hearts numerous. For a moment her comfort holds me, and my aching heart feels God’s strengthening presence as I feel keenly aware that he too knows my pain and wants to embrace me in the gift of His tender heart to know my deepest needs.

 I walk through the children’s rooms to put away the towels.  Their rooms are precious places that tell the story of their life. Each room has hints of “grammie”. Some rooms display cards she has written them and collages of pictures to keep her memory fresh. Others display the last photo the kids took with her in the hospital. I feel sadness as Grammies pink bunny rabbit is displayed on my eight year olds pillow top. These are signs that my mother meant a world of comfort to them too. 

 If my mother brought me nothing else in life, this one thing she taught me.  That the comfort that a mother brings to her children in times of distress and pain, is a gift that will last an eternity.  My mother has trained me to depend upon the comfort of Christ alone. Thoughts of her bring me comfort and cause me to realize that turning to God when I am weary is not a struggle but a learned behavior that is natural.  She has given me a gift! 

My mother has experienced some of the darkest nights in her own life. Her sole comfort was in Christ alone and she transformed that power into my life. Because of this, on lonely mornings such as today I can find the strength to seek God’s comfort in the small comforts of my mother’s life that I see around me. I sense the indescribable presence that both my mother and God Himself are standing here beside me with their arms wrapped around me in love and comfort. 

 I have learned to Cherish the Comfort… in Loss.  I take comfort in one tiny hope that somewhere in the realm of Heaven, God let’s my mother know my prayers of Thanks to her for her arms of comfort in my life.  Our family finds comfort in our prayers as we ask God to “tell grammie we love her” and somehow I feel that she too still takes comfort in knowing we do.

Another Chance to Get it Right

I was on my way to class this morning, late as usual. My normal route takes me down a highway from the rural areas, into the city. Traveling down the highway in the passing lane and going 70 miles per hour, I came over the top of a hill and spotted a car further ahead of me on the right side of the road. The hill I had just came over began to drop back down to a dip, and then began a steady incline upward again as I began to move toward the stopped car. The closer I got, the more visible a man became to me, and he was crouched in the fast lane.

It appeared as if he was possibly sitting on the ground, but as I began to slow down and move closer toward him I realized that he was standing bent at the waist in the middle of my lane. I couldn’t pull over, due to the car that was beside me on the road. The vehicle beside me seemed to slow down in unison with me, and the vehicles in both lanes behind us began to respond in the same manner. I came to the base of the hill, and as I began up the incline, my car nearly had to come to a complete stop.

Before me was a man in dress clothes – tan pants and a red shirt, now squatting down as if struck with concern. I saw him stoop his body and reach toward the ground and place his arms in a cradled position as he stood and walked to the left side of the road in an effort to climb the hill and cross to his car again. As I passed the man with full curiosity, I saw within his cradled arms a cocker spaniel draped and limp, looking at the cars as they slowly passed. His fluffy tail dragged in the wind as if it hadn’t the ability to lift. My heart dropped for the animal,  and immediately my prayers began: “Dear God, bless this man. How proud you must be of his courage to help even this animal. Bless him today. Give him special blessings for his faithfulness to your creation.” I looked upward to see a flock of geese gracefully fly by.

Why did this scene move me? Common sense would tell you that it moved me for obvious reasons, yet there was something deeper speaking to me from my inner being.  Life is like a highway of fast paced cars. We try to dodge the cars sometimes, but somehow some of us seem to get struck. As we lie there immobile from the devastating blow, we long to get up and keep going, but just don’t have the ability to move. The blow devastates our ability to protect even ourselves. We lie there vulnerable and bruised, broken and dying. Suddenly, God stops and takes time to notice. He dodges the cars of life and redirects or sometimes halts the traffic. The cars that aim to hit us suddenly find that they have to succumb to the scene and avoid their directional blow. When God steps in – things begin to happen. He bends above us. We cannot turn to look at him, because the blow has taken the very life from us. He understands and stoops to cradle us gently and carry us to safety. Limp, we watch from a distance. The cars of life - that could have once again chosen our fate - pass slowly. We find no frustration in our Savior. Somehow, he knows we didn’t mean to get caught in tragedy.

I am thankful for the salvation that came my way and cradles me still during the madness of life. Somehow, once again I am saved, and I thank God for another chance to attempt to get it right.

Reasons why I love being at my home…

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Today began as an overcast day here at the house.  Clouds were steadily rolling in over the lake.  Then the wind picked up and the sun peeked through (as you can see in the pictures) and I couldn’t help myself but to go out with my camera and capture all that I saw.  Though the pollen is thick and my M is sick (ha! A rhyme) … there is nothing more beautiful than flowers in bloom in my own back yard.  Wisteria, Iris, Daffodill, Jasmine, Japanese Magnolia, and trumpets… Gorgeous!

When I Grow Up…

As a grown woman, one would think by now I have arrived at the peak of decisiveness and know exactly what I want to do.  Somehow, it’s just not that easy. 

While I sit here in my comfy pajamas typing away, I’m thankful for the ability to rest here with my 12 year old who is not feeling well today.  I’m thankful for benadryl that helps her sleep in spite of the allergies that have kept her awake since 5 A.M. – thus keeping me awake also.  I’m thankful that because she home-schools, I don’t have to worry if she will miss her work, or dealing with excused/unexcused absences, because I know that she is ahead anyway and we can catch up on todays work tomorrow.  I’m also thankful that I home-school her, because I love being in my home.  I love enjoying my house and all of the wonderful things that happen here, and I’m thankful for my husband who works hard and gives of himself every day so that I can be here with her.

Now I want to address the other split side of this picture. A “bi-polar” type “when I grow up” dream of sorts that plagues me every day.  While enjoying home-schooling and being a mom and wife, I’ve worked hard to pursue an education in Communications, only to stay home with my daughter. The struggle still: I work in communications as an instructor – create my own curriculum, and mentor people through their pregnancy issues.  This work affords me the ability to stay home and enjoy my day with my daughter, home-schooling – yet I am guilt-laden because I don’t have a ‘real job’ like most people have.

When I grow up, I want to work in counseling.  Counseling in womens issues, run my own practice, etc. and I will do it. I start my Masters program in May, and while I’m excited … I’m still looking for a full time job – as if I will have the time or energy to withstand. 

So my question is, what am I trying to do and Who am I trying to be? I feel no need to measure up to anyone else, nor do I wish to change the current place in which I sit while my sweet M is sick. I consider whether the drive to overachieve is part of it, but overachievement is never appealing to me.

To make matters worse, my feet most recently have sprouted wings and I want to fly.  Not from here, from anyone, but I want them to come too.  I want to move…. find my way home to CT. Maybe it’s just being homesick since I haven’t returned since my mom passed 4 years ago and a good trip home would cure me… but I don’t want to leave my beautiful home here and move. I don’t want to leave my friends either, or Lyn’s family. Still, I have no family here… they are all in CA, NC , and CT … leaving me miss all the wonderful things that my family can be to my life.

Such confusion and angst and I just don’t get it. Any ideas??

Compelling thought: Being content where we are is great, but angst can’t always be that bad if it leads us to greater things … or can it?

My Life Crisis Right Now in the Form of a Newsflash! “I’m NOT Superwoman”

*Siggghhhh*

I feel better already, now that your image of me has been shattered by Captain obvious! My mid life crisis right now tends to have me a little flustered. Seems that I feel I have stress every day often for nothing, brought about by senseless freaks of nature, technical malfunctions, and daily issues that have nothing to do with me at all.

I am NOT Superwoman ......

Issue 1: My daily responsibilities -

• Be a housewife – clean, feed miss M, bills, etc
• Plan dinner
• Home-school miss M
• Run/exercise
• Work from home for 2 businesses
• Answer business calls
• Teach at local hospital 2-3 nights a week/2 Sat. a month
• Save the world when any other family, business, personal, or medical issues come up.

Issue 2: I can’t seem to get it all done without minor mishaps throwing it all off. Daily, something or someone (usually Miss M, My Hubby, or another family member who would understand) gets put on the back burner, I don’t meet a business deadline, the house stays a mess, I don’t get to run, or I forget to take something out for dinner – not to mention that I was supposed to cook!

My day today: I attempted to make some changes and it seems to have worked. Here’s a brief rundown which I’ll start at midnight last night.

1. Midnight I was in bed asleep – not normal for me: I’m usually a night person who does her best work after the house goes to sleep. I can stay up til 2 and still be wide awake and motivated, as well as inspired if I’m writing music, lyrics, blogs, or my many works I’m working on.
2. Throughout the night: Not feeling well. Thought I was getting a bit achy last night, feeling a bit weary and exhausted, so I tossed and turned, woke up coughing once, and at 2:23 after just falling asleep again, my L woke me and her daddy up very sick.  Dad tended to her this time and I slept until 6:45 at which time I got up and got everyone out the door with breakfast and lunches (they can do their own, but I like to help because I get to kiss them bye and see them off on their way).
3. 7:00 A.M. I decided to go back to bed… still achy… and slept until 10, dragging myself out of the bed at 10:30.
4. 10:45 A.M. Semi awake I began to make the bed, put away clean clothes, gather house trash, checked my business email (and stepped away from the computer so I didn’t get sucked into hours of computer junk and FB), cleaned up after our sick cat, did 2 loads of laundry,  Enjoyed spaghetti lunch with Miss M, talked to my aunt on the phone for 1 hour and cleaned the entire time (multi-tasked), took 2 new client calls from our new advertisement, watched Shrek with Miss M for the best parts of the movie, walked on the treadmill, welcomed my son home from school.
5. 4:50 P.M. (NOW) I get to blog about my completed run. WOO HOO!! I just realized that I forgot to take out dinner while typing about forgetting to take out dinner  so I’ll go do that. I have not worked at all on my deadlines for work … and I’m sure he’s going to be calling or texting anytime. Coming up on the 5 o’clock hour…
6. I need a bath
7. I have to leave for work when Hubby gets home around 6
8. I need to review and teach Miss M’s math to her before 6 P.M.
9. Hubby will cook tonight because he will be so proud that I walked and the house is clean that he won’t mind … also we are having cube steak and mashed potato’s and he loves cooking his favorite meal.

So I’m sure you wonder why I choose to blog about this when I’m reaching deadlines and haven’t completed my responsibilities for the day? It’s because …

.... oh how I wish I WERE superwoman!

• I feel better than I did last night, and am not sick so I’m happy and when I’m happy I like to blog.
• Blogging is good for me because I realize how blessed I am.  It took this blog to remind me that I am thankful for my ability to rest when I don’t feel well, or am tired. I am not a morning person so I cherish my mornings to sleep in. Most people may have finished half of their day before I dragged out of bed this morning, but I work on the other half of mine after you are all sacked out on the couch at 9 P.M. For this I am blessed!
• I’m blogging for a few minutes of my day because I have been busting my fanny since my feet hit the floor, and I think that there are people out there that think that housewives do nothing all day. You’re DEAD Wrong!
• I am blogging because putting my stresses on paper makes me come to the realization that I’m rather amazing! (HA!)  I am not only a housewife, but a teacher (because I don’t ship my kid off to school), working a day job as an administrative guru/advertiser for a small business in the area, and also a night job as a 12 year instructor, as well as running my own business from home and working all of our advertisement, incoming and outgoing calls, and scheduling. (keep in mind these calls all come in while I’m trying to do everything else)
• I’m blogging this when I have something else to do because I love to blog and write and because thinking things through when I’m having a week like this week reminds me that there are other things in my life that are important to me, like completing my book and a curriculum for business, singing with 2 choirs, running my C25K program, making time for a marriage, and guess what softball and soccer season is coming around the corner, so yep you guessed it… practices practices practices and games!

I wrote this blog to get my thoughts out, because as I was running it was all a jumbled mess in my head. So I know that at the end of the day I don’t always accomplish the many things I set out to do.  But here are some solutions that have helped me today.

1. I’m blogging and writing makes me happy. I’m a writer. I hold a communications degree. I’ll be happy the rest of the day because I laid this all out for myself and can read and re-read it over and over again when I need a pick me up.  Whomever said blogging is for other people, doesn’t realize how healing it is for the writer!
2. I did not allow myself to get on a social network more than 5 minutes today – all day – they consume me and my time and take me from what is most important.
3. Yesterday, I did a lot of stuff for other people and it all fell apart. Spent 7 hours fighting with computer programs that failed me and made me stressed and wishing I hadn’t offered to help. Won’t do that again. I realized my priorities and family must come first… and right now… there is no time for anything else. I can’t keep up with my own responsibilities as it is.
4. Everything I do each day needs to be necessary… if it is not … only I can change the hold it puts on my time.
5. I checked my business email for work related issues, then I got off. I didn’t give one second of thought to staying on the computer and being sucked into its appeal.
6. I did the things today that would make me feel most accomplished, everything else will have to wait.  This meant that I didn’t work on my business deadline, but I am so happy right now at what I have accomplished, that I feel calm enough to set aside a little time to actually complete my business work.
7. I must re-prioritize. Who and what comes first, second, third? What is most important to me … not others … but me? What makes me feel accomplished and happy?
8. I realized today, once I feel happy and accomplished within myself … I can take on more in a day because I am more relaxed and less stressed.
9. I actually enjoyed the hour of time on the phone with my aunt… who usually gets put off in my fits of stress. Family is often good for the soul.

So now I’ve spent exactly 17 minutes of my day blogging and I feel even better!! I’ve got an hour to get a hot shower, dress for work and teach math for home-school. I think I can do this!

… The kids took dinner out of the freezer (and it’s thawing quickly) and I still have business work to do. That could really stress me, but I’ll make some new minutes in my day somewhere and get it done.

Compelling though: I know I don’t walk alone as a housewife in all of this mess! I know too many other women who are in the same shoes, and none of them are superwoman either… but they sure do come close! I know I do!

23/27 Couch 2 5K

Completing another day of running, blah… blah… blah… and so it goes. I’m sure some of you are tired of hearing the updates, but for me it is healing.  Even though my last blog stated that I had actually regressed in my stamina and duration to the point that I was working back on week 4′s runs (run number 12/27) I still have to continue the 23/27 blog run tally because even though I am not technically at run 23 in the program… I have run 23 times! This feels good to say. I have not only continued the running when I thought I’d give up, but I have now surpassed the amount of runs I completed in track in high school, have lost weight inches, and am still running and sometimes even crave running as an escape.

So I think from now on I will post my tracking this way in my attempt to continue my program and my efforts.

“Today: Run #23 Since 10-1-10 … C25K run 12/27″

This way I’m true to my hard work and progress, yet true to the program since I lost some stamina and got out of shape over 2 1/2 weeks of Christmas indulgence (which I might add was well worth the baking and amazing time with my family around the table)!

So a few steps forward, a few back but I’m still in the race and that means a lot to me! I’m a bit bummed that I was to begin week 7 (run 21) of the Couch 2 5K around Christmas and in 2 1/2 weeks of not running I lost about 3 weeks of previous work, but it’s okay.

Now for a hot bath and the exhilaration that usually kicks in after about 45 minutes of rest. My body is already feeling good and I guess rightfully so since I ran the treadmill today with 2 – 17.5 minute miles and burned 69.2 fat calories and 221 Calories. Now that’s something to smile about!

Compelling thought: I’m going to get a new bathing suit this year – I can’t wait! That old one of 6 years has to go!!