St. Augustine, you did not make a good impression on me today.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

PinkGirl’s 4th grade class went on a field trip to St. Augustine today and I had to drive because she was in a charity performance for Toys for Tots tonight and she had to be at the theater earlier than the bus was returning.

I think I’m all set and then, last night around 6pm, one of the teachers sent out an email:

“If chaperones want to drive we can’t stop you; however it is a big problem in that the trolley tour that leaves from the Old Jail does not return there. It drops us off at the fort, and you will not be able to get back to your car.”

Seriously?

So I Googled St. Augustine and found a map From the fort to the Old Jail . . . it didn’t seem that far to me, but I didn’t know, so I emailed the teacher back:

“What are my options if I need to get PinkGirl back early? From your email, it sounds like driving my own vehicle would leave me stranded. I’ve never been to St. Augustine and it sounds like you know the ropes. Any suggestions?”

His reply, at 6:16 this MORNING:

“I am sure there are a few parents driving. Maybe you can catch a ride back to the jail or miss the trolley tour and just drive from the jail to the fort. Parking for the fort is at the welcome center across the street. Sorry, but there is no easy way that I know of.”

I’m thinking, they all sound like easy ways to me, unless you can’t WALK. I’m thinking all my treadmill time has prepared me for this. Little did I know.

So PinkGirl rides the cool bus with TVs to St. Augustine and I drive my van and park at the Old Jail with all the other parents who drove. We tour the Museum (GREAT tour guide) and the Old Jail. Here’s my facebook posts during the tour of the Old Jail:

“Trying to stand where the authoritarian tour guide tells us to stand. Got in trouble 3 times already.”

and then,

“Got in trouble with the cranky tourguide again. Now I’m standing as far back as I can to listen to the tour guide behind me. He’s funnier.”

oh. she was bossy. FirstHusband says I have a problem with authority. I say I just tend to ignore bossy people.

But here’s where it all started to go downhill fast. While we were in the Old Jail, it started raining. Did I mention it was COLD? I was wearing three layers and leather gloves. PinkGirl is wearing two layers and gloves, but she’s running around more. And then it started raining.

Not good.

We had lunch on a small porch. All three 4th grade classes and a bunch of parents.

Then on to the trolley ride. So NOW we’re all in an open trolley, in the cold, in the rain and traveling at least 30 miles per hour.

Not good.

By the time the tour was finished 45 minutes later, we were soaked and very, Very, VERY cold. And we had 45 minutes of “free time” until the tour of the fort. The mom I was hanging with was on a quest for coffee and I was right there with her. I hate shopping as it is and there was NO way I was going to shop while I was soaking wet.

After a latte for me and a hot chocolate for PinkGirl ($9.00), we walked to the fort and stood around waiting for that tour to begin. In the rain. I asked our tour guide about options to get back to our vehicles at the Old Jail and he quickly pointed out the trolley stop right in front of the fort. Supposedly, the trolley schedule was every 15 minutes.

umm. hmm.

So PinkGirl goes on the fort tour with her class in the care of my fellow coffee lovin mom and I walk over to the trolley stop with two other moms to wait. and wait. and wait.

Forget it. It’s RAINING and I’m freezing and if I’m going to be in the rain, I’m NOT going to stand still while I’m getting soaked. I’m at LEAST going to be moving toward my destination. We were decked out in some seriously attractive complementary rain ponchos from the trolley company, so my thought was that if we saw a trolley coming our way, we would look pitiful and step out into the middle of the street and flag… okay, maybe not. But the “look pitiful” part worked after we walked about a half a mile. Since the rain ponchos were covered in the trolley company logo, a BUS driver (NOT a trolley, but a WARM, ENCLOSED BUS) pulled to a stop right in the middle of the road and opened the door.

My favorite person of the day, and I don’t even know his name.

I get the van, drive it back to the fort and go looking for our group. They are on TOP of the fort, overlooking the water. And now it’s cold and raining and WINDY.

This is not my happy day.

PinkGirl, however is having a GREAT time. weirdo.

But the SECOND the tour is over, she says, “Mom, can we go now?

Oh, honey, you do NOT have to ask me twice. I have a vehicle and I’m not afraid to use it. We were outta there so fast! A quick pit stop at McDonalds and we were on the road. PinkGirl fell asleep within 20 minutes and stayed asleep till we got off the highway in our little hometown, about an hour and a half later.

My next facebook update:

“I dont know how PinkGirl is even still standing, much less performing in a show tonight. We had to be at school at 6:30 am, we spent most of the day freezing and soaking wet and she fell asleep in the van on the way home from St. Augustine. Her dad had to carry her into the house so she could change clothes for the show. She’s sleeping in tomorrow, I can feel it.”

Then, later:

“PinkGirl just got home from the show – she is TOTALLY wired. But when she crashes, it’s going to look like this. (at the 2:43 mark)”

four minutes with God: 1 Samuel 14:8-10

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

a Quote:
“Is it possible you have been fleecing your divine moments rather than seizing them? That you’ve said to God, “I’m not doing anything, risking anything, or going anywhere until You give me a sign? Have you chosen to live in safety, comfort and convenience, justifying this lifestyle because God hasn’t called you to a different life? Is your justification for living a low-risk life the absence of a sign to live differently?”
Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment
by Erwin Raphael McManus

my Prayer:
Lord, please help me to remember that striving to step out into a new ministry doesn’t mean I have to abandon my current work. I can use the time you’ve given me more efficiently, I can change what I do with my discretionary time, deciding against the pointless idleness that masquerades as rest and pursuing my passion instead.

Please help me to choose activities during rest that are truly restorative, not mind-numbing and time-sucking.

Please help me say no to the lesser things to make room for the greater things, even when those lesser things seem “good.” Please help me to be a better steward of my time and resources.

Please help me to make wise financial decisions so I can use the revenue from my current work to support my ministry. Lord please illuminate my next step as I navigate the unknown future. Please prompt me to TAKE a step instead of letting my feet grow roots from indecision and fear.

the Word:
Jonathan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands.”
1 Samuel 14:8-10(NIV)

the lyric.
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us?
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?
What can stand against?
Our God
by Chris Tomlin

This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.

handlebar or Groucho?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Background:
One of FavoriteSon’s most enjoyable pastimes is making jokes about my age.
One of my most enjoyable pastimes is making fun of the bare patches in his wannabe beard.

Me, talking about a new prescription cream for my face: “Supposedly, it will make me look more youthful.”

FavoriteSon: “Good luck with that.”

Me: “Handlebar or Groucho?”

FavoriteSon: “huh?”

Me: “What kind of Sharpie mustache do you want to see when you look in the mirror tomorrow morning, handlebar or Groucho?”

FavoriteSon: “Just fill it in right here” (motioning the middle of his upper lip)

Me: “No hitlers.”

FavoriteSon: “It’s not a hitler! It’s just filling in between what’s already there.”

Me: “You don’t have anything already there.”

seemed self-explanatory to me.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Somebody Googled this today and landed on my blog:

“meaning of winston churchill it’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

Really? “MEANING OF?”

It means “wishin don’t make it so, sometimes you have to get it DONE.”

Anybody else have an interpretation?

This is one thing that came to mind:

We know it’s Christmastime…when the Mickey wreath goes up.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

We’re long time Disney freaks and I adopted this idea YEARS ago after seeing it at Walt Disney World.

I LOVE me a Disney Christmas and I’m REALLY missing Candlelight this year! But it wouldn’t be frugal. Best time EVER? Front row, smack in line with the sign language interpreter. My FAVORITE narrator is Marlee Matlin.

If I was a mechanic, I’d look. But I’m not, so I won’t.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

For over a week, we left the key in the ignition in our van. Intentionally.

It had been touchy to insert it for a few weeks, but FavoriteSon and I had finessed the process. Then, on our trip to Georgia last week, FirstHusband, having no idea about the problem (oops), was a little more forceful with it and the next time we tried to get the key in the ignition, it took a few minutes. Since we were in Georgia and didn’t want to get STUCK in Georgia, we left a key in the ignition, covered it with a jacket and locked the van with another key. We wrapped a ponytail holder around it to remind us not to remove it.

Since I had to work on client site Tuesday and did NOT want to try and park FirstHusband’s Ford F250 in Downtown Orlando, I scheduled the repair for Wednesday morning. For the most part, I would say I’m really pleased with Courtesy Honda in Sanford, but when I went to pick up the van, I was . . . a little insubordinate.

Service Rep: “I want you to take a look at that leaking pressure hose.”
Me: “I’d really rather not.”
Service Rep: “You really need to see it.”
Me: “Not really. I’m not a mechanic, that’s why I outsource my car repair.”

(See, this is why I’m in business for myself. If I worked for someone else, I would be fired for insubordination within about a minute and a half. FirstHusband says I have a problem with authority. I say I tend to ignore bossy people.)

He just wanted me to look at a wet hose, which he said he could fix for $570. Half hour later, our favorite mechanics at Oviedo’s Automech quoted $359. (Automech told me to have the dealer do the ignition repair because of its integration with the alarm sytem)

I’m not any good at repairing a leaking power steering pressure hose. I’m better at finding someone competent who can do it at the best price.

bah, gumbug.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

PinkGirl: “Mom, I don’t think I’m going to want any more gum.”

Me: “Why not?”

PinkGirl: “Look.”

ewwwwww. a roach. Was it death by bubble gum? Or did he just get trapped in the container and starve to death?

And does PinkGirl throw it out? of course not.

Once again the lyrics of “I’m a Mom” come into play: “I’m a mediator, exterminator . . . ”

Is it a coincident that my pest control guy called TODAY to set up an appointment for our annual service?

(I looked, but there just wasn’t an applicable post tag for this one.)