Reasons to Love Monday - Ignoring the Elephant

Hello and Goodbye to Monday and the Month of April 2012! I decided I needed to do my usual "Reasons to Love Monday" blog entry because of no other reason than my own mental health. There's an elephant in the room in that I have this old, ugly unemployment appeal hearing to face tomorrow and as much as I want it to be decided... I'm not looking forward to it. I figure... it will be just like hemorrhoid surgery: I'll face it, it will be really unpleasant for a period of time and then, the healing will begin. Good/bad/ugly... it has to happen.

So ... here are my "ignore the elephant in the room" Reasons to Love Monday:

• It's almost over, Monday, I mean. And the whole unemployment ordeal. 
• We had a really good, safe, happy birthday visit with the fam. I got to visit with my sweet cousin who I haven't seen in ... gosh... over a year... and enjoy her babies and I got to see my Aunt and Uncle's fabulous new home and got to really spend quality time with people I haven't had much quality time with over the past year. 
• I woke up this morning in the "Butterfly Room" which was delightful and peaceful and comfy and cozy... had coffee on the porch with my Aunt and Uncle before it got hot and I was able to get on the road after rush hour. 
• We had chickfila for breakfast. And lunch. Because we always buy two meals whenever we go there. 
• Austin was incredibly cooperative this weekend. That always helps.
• We bought Austin's graduation outfit today with no stress or fuss. Shopping with him is not generally easy.
• We had a great Starbucks visit courtesy of Mother Hen Linda who sent us a generous gift card for my birthday.
• Austin decided that my new snow globe from Colleen is (and I quote) "the coolest snow globe" he has ever seen. High praise indeed!
• I keep arguing that blog perks such as fabulous birthday gifts mean that I am a "compensated writer"... although Austin says that I can't possible be a "real writer" because I don't get paid for it (like Miss Natalie, he says). Whatever the case, it truly means the world to me that people who don't know me in real life are so generous. 
• DESPITE the nasty gram from Austin's English teacher advising that Austin is currently failing English and therefore *might not graduate*... despite the fact that I've spent near about $150 of money that I can't afford to spend on his graduation attire... despite the fact that he copped an attitude with me (Austin, not the teacher) when I told him it was now or never... I'm still believing that he will make it. He just has to. 
• Daddy made me some homemade pimento cheese... which, if you're southern enough to like pimento cheese, you're southern enough to pronounce it "puh-menna cheez"... and in either case... it's good eats.
• It got up to 86 degrees here today and the house is still comfortable, thanks to the fact that we don't get direct sunlight. I imagine we will have to use the a/c in the next day or two but at least we made it all the way through April without a/c. That's never happened for me.
• Someone cut the little patch of grass outside our door that has been neglected all Spring. I don't mind, other than worrying about snakes, but it's cut now so that's nice.
• I have already paid all the bills (I think) for May. It's just a matter of living expenses at this point. 
• I've got a printer/scanner combo deal now... it was a hand-me-down from my parents but I'm super excited to have it and I plan to do some photo scanning in my free time. The printer works but needs ink so I can print my own resumes and cover letters. 
• I have done a lot of genealogy type research over the past couple of days and I have been working on this handy-dandy notebook with diagrams tracing the individual family lines back as far as they can go. I haven't covered all the various branches but each one is like a treasure hunt. I love this stuff! 

And that's the way it is... here in "Ignore the Elephant" central. I'm not allowing myself to get stressed or anxious. God is in control. He's been all along. Whatever the outcome, I trust that it will work out for my good and His glory (and I'd appreciate it if a couple dozen of you will be kind enough to remind me of this if things don't go my way). God is good.