Pins and Needles

Before you read this, I will warn you...this particular entry is 'invoooooooolved', so if you're reading this to procrastinate away that 'thing' that you wanted to force patience onto for just a second more, make sure it's not going to be too harmful for that second to total up to minutes, ha! :P

Whether or not you noticed the title of this entry (*and now that you have),
pins and needle were my 'theme' today...
err, for that matter, this whole week, as I've been preparing for a semi-annual children's consignment sale that I participate in twice a year.
As a side-note, (told you this was involved), if you live anywhere near Eugene OR, you really should check it out--TONS of gently-used baby-clothes/gear/toys, you name it, for a fraction of the retail cost--and it helps to support a sweet little children's consignment shop in Eugene. ;)
Email or leave me a note if you want the details.

K. I'm back now.

So, related to sale-preparations...pins have been haunting me, all week.
I've been having actual dreams of pinning tags to clothing articles and for that matter,
sharing this blog with you is actually causing me physical pains due to the pressure of the computer keys against my multiple fingertip stab-wounds. ;P

Preparing for this sale has also meant digging through my large quantities of 'stuff', inside rubber-maids, inside our garage.

Heuh heuh heuh....the garage. *shutters*
Eebie-jeebies just broke out ALL over my body from thinking about the garage, or really as we should be calling it, the 'rat's nest.' :P
How about you...do you have a garage scenario like ours???
Yeah, mine is a long-term project...meaning I'm in phases that will lead up to the eventual OVERHAUL of that crazy place. And yes, I will blog about it if you'd like--or even if you don't, ha.

Anyway.
Off topic.
Again.

As I was saying...preparations for this sale were, to say the least, time-consuming. Then, with all related thought processes and time-constraints weighing heavily over me, along with the hour distance that for some reason, in this scenario & need for punctuality, feels like a 10-HR distance...
I was stressed.
You could say I was on PINS AND NEEDLES.

Yeah. Like that? ;)
I do way over flatter myself. I know. I'm working on it. :P

Leaving the house today was a mad-rush, I'm not gonna lie. *And I wouldn't get away with it anyway cause there were witnesses.* Ashley. ;)

After Ashley helped me cram in my seven rubber-maids and however many other miscellaneous baby-gear items that were kissing my car-windows the whole trip up...I was out of here!
A quick grab of the purse, a quick re-entry of the house for the keys that were not inside said purse....... THEN, I was off, with just enough time for the drive.

Gas gauge? Just enough to get to Eugene. Whew! :)

For my fingertips sake as well as your brains power-guage, we'll skip ahead.

*Fast forward

Drive.
Sing praises. *Car radio's not working at the moment.
Still driving.
Still singing.
Arrive at Camp Harlow.
Greetings/cordialities.
Unload car.
Drive to mom & dad Z's.
Greetings/quick cordialities with mom & dad Z.
Pick up last 3 rubber-maids *left in their garage for this purpose.
Drive back to Camp Harlow.
Drop off last items.
Cordialities/ 'Safe travels home,' says Jennie--the sweet lady in charge of the sale. :)
Drive.
Hear/Feel stomach rumble *Haven't eaten since 2pm and it's now 8pm. Eeek!
Stop for quick 'tide me over' bite to eat at Taco Bell.

*Play button.

Ok, so it goes a little something like this:
You remember when I said how quickly I left the house, grabbed my purse, etc?
Yeah.

So here I am, at the drive-up window. Ordered a burrito and a med. iced tea.
We've been really trying to eat only healthy stuff lately---no eating out, no junk, etc.
Needless to say, my order was just to please the belly for just long enough till I was home.

'$3.73 please.'
I open my purse.......wait what? Where's my wallet???
Oh my.
Like a scene-flash on a movie, I remember.
It's in the backpack we took to the Duck's game. At Home.
I blush, explain and pull away, empty-bellied but on a mission to just GET HOME.
Initial response? 'Thank you, Lord...I didn't need that junk anyway!'

Content with the idea of a short 'fast', I begin singing again (remember, no radio?!) and pull onto the freeway. Merging onto I-5 I glance down.

Yeah. You're smart...you remember that little moment of foreshadowing back at the top of this entry...
about the gas gauge.
Ha! The GAS. GUAGE. (It's like watching an old Murder-She-Wrote Re-run, isn't it?!) ;)

Back come those pins and needles.

THAT needle was pointing toward the all hateful little gas-pump icon. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!
Now what.
No wallet. No checkbook. *yes, I'd already noticed that when sitting in the drive-thru.
No phone--oh yeah, did I mention *for those of you who have yet to experience the immense irritation of not being able to reach me cause my phone is LAME* Yeah, my phone doesn't hold a charge or stay on, or do anything predictable, for that matter. >:-P

Still not gonna panic, though.

I drive to the nearest exit with a gas-station, which happens to be the Glenwood exit, pull off, park in the gas-station parking lot and proceed to tear my car apart searching for cash, change...anything that will buy me gas!

Fast forward 15 very panicked minutes and I finally stop searching, close all my doors, sit in the driver's seat and just before I let myself start crying, I start praying.

'Lord...PLEEEEEEASE, I know I can borrow a phone...I know I can call mom & dad Z., I know I have options.........but pleeeeease help me. Send something...someone.......make this an easy fix.
I'm tired. I'm hungry. My family's waiting. I WANT TO GO HOME.

I get out of my car, walk into the gas-station market, not really having a 'plan'...walk up to the counter and proceed to explain my 'sob-story' to the cashier.
It's not even a full two sentences completed before a small, sweet but funny little lady butts into the conversation.

'WAIT! Do you need money? Are you out of gas? CAN I HELP YOU???'

Is she for real? I don't know about you all, but it's been a loooong time since I've seen signs of God's Love showing and working through complete strangers, for my benefit?!

We were seriously just having a conversation with some family-members about how, as times get graver and darker, people all around us, more and more, are thriving for THEMSELVES.
It's like you know if everyone were starving to death, they'd stoop so low as to make
YOU part of their menu.

Sick, I know. I'm done with the dark stuff. But it's true.

Back to Kristen. *That's her name.

Kristen proceeds to tell me how she just got majorly ripped by a rental company today and she literally feels like God may be hounding the message into her...between rental-thing and me...that money's not important and in fact, it's not even ours! :)

*Fast forward

Me crying.
Her crying.
Embracing of strangers.
Exchange of contact info *mainly so I can pay her back her 20 bucks!
Purchase of ice cream, made by her, cause she was gonna go home & celebrate this interaction. ;)
Exchange of 20 bucks, just enough to get me home...
Another embrace.

*Play button.
Get back in car and pull up to the gas-pump.
Pay the station attend.
Watch as the needle gets just far enough away from that evil little gas-pump light for me to
make it home.


Do I think Kristen & I were placed in that same place at that same time, for a reason? Absolutely.
Did I regain a little deeper hope in humanity---rather that humanity will turn to the right Power-source and in turn, put one another into a more faith-filled priority-list? Without a doubt.
Did I give Him praise and thanks for Kristen and His Faithfulness to me?
THE WHOLE WAY HOME!

Hey, I even wrote a song about it on the way home, ha! Not kidding.

...and no, I'm not calling it Pins and Needles. What a silly question. :P