Happy Saturday!!

My dad is a real Mr. Fix it kind of man. For example, about two weeks ago he was told that his rental property needed a few shingles replaced. It would have only cost $200 for the roofer to take care of it, but alas the next Saturday I found myself in the roofing isle of lowes picking out shingle nails. He and I climbed to the roof of the three story town house and got to work.

This last week my father decided the deck needed to be stained. So Saturday morning I was awaken early and the Allred family got to work staining the deck. Here are some pictures of all the fun!

We aren't quite finished because my sister and her family showed up and I'd much rather spend my day with her and my hot MES! But you better believe I already have some hot plans for next saturday. It starts with "Finish" and ends with "the deck".

Day 24-Something you've learned-Better late then never

    I don't know if any one noticed but day 24 was missing. When it came time to write the post I could not think of one blasted thing "I had learned!" I had just graduated from college for goodness sakes. Haven't I learned something? May be it was the lack of direction. Some thing I had learned from what? What arena was I supposed to draw my nugget of knowledge from? I digress. I have thought of something and am ready to dispense this something now. I hope I can express it adequately.

    Something that has been on my mind recently, and has been apparent through out my entire life, is the fact that Heavenly Father always puts the right people in my path at the right times in my life. It is either to help me through whatever challenge I face or for me to help them. I was reminded of that tonight after I got off the phone with my best friend. I just spent the last hour and a half pouring my soul out to my her. She had a lot of others things she needed to do tonight but she sat there and listened to me and now I feel a little more healed.
     I am grateful for those people who take the time to serve me and to love me. I am grateful that Heavenly Father knows me well enough to know what I need and sends me someone who can provide that.

So this is what I've learned.

     I have learned that it is so important to allow other people to serve you. It can be challenging as well as very humbling to accept help, but there are great benefits and blessings that come for everyone involved. When you accept help from others in a way you are sharing your troubles and sharing your burdens with them. When you do not allow others to serve you you are isolating yourself and saying, "Nope. I can carry this huge load on my own." Who wants to be isolated anyway.
     When I serve others I develop a love for that person. I create a bond with them that I value because of service they allowed me to give them. I also feel good about myself and I am better able to feel the spirit. When one does not accept service from others they are denying other the opportunity and blessings of feel those things and showing them love. So really, you are providing a service to them by allowing them to serve you! ;)
   What a great plan heavenly father has! He did not put us on this earth to go it alone. We have wonderful people around us to help lift us and carry the burdens we have. It makes life so much easier when you distribute that weight. What a happy and fulfilling way to live your life!

Day 18-Something you regret

I don't know if talking about things I regret is a good thing or a bad thing...but here we go.

I am lucky to not have may regrets in life. I am not one of those people who says, "I live my life to have no regrets!" Because really, that is not possible. You're human. You make mistakes. And you will regret it. I say I don't have many regrets because I have worked through a lot of my mistakes and have made amends. There comes a time when you just have to realize you are going to make mistakes and become ok with that. However, there are things I have done that I feel like no matter how much I apologize or try to make up for I can't fix.There is pain that I caused and can't take away.

You see, when I was little I had a bit of an attitude/temper. My nickname at girl's camp was spitfire and there was good reason. People always said that I was a sweet little girl and had such a good heart, which was nice. I mean what a sweet little face right?

1st grade

But what those adults didn't know was if you got me mad/annoyed enough heaven help you.

What I regret are the horribly mean words that I said to a few fellow children. At the time I didn't think before I spoke (I sometimes have a problem with that) and I would say whatever would wound the person I was battling the most. When I look back and think about the possible long term and short term damage my words may have done and the hurt I know they caused, my heart breaks. I wish I could go back and redo those moments. There are specific people I have in mind that instead of yelling at and berating, I would give anything to go back and tell them how wonderful they are and what good people they will grow up to be, and how much I will love and adore them in the future. I wish I could go back and take those words back and repair what I took from their self esteem. Those words are the things I regret the most. That hurt I wish I could take away forever.

A quote that now I try to remember when situations arise where I could say something I regret is, "We are not only our brother's keeper; in countless and small ways we are our brother's maker." -Bonaro Overstreet

Day 1

Day 1: Introduce yourself, share recent picture, and 15 interesting facts

I am Deborah Diane Allred......I always get stuck there. I am from the east coast and I love saying that! When I originally moved from sunny California I thought I'd always claim the golden state as my home but oh how times have changed. I am starting Grad school in a few days and as I have told everyone I am excited but my biggest worry is: where in the world am I going to get the money to pay for it? Luckily life always works out and I've decided to pull a Scarlet and worry about that tomorrow.

My Recent picture......

This was taken in December right before graduation (I am sick of using graduation pictures for everything). I had one of the worst days at my internship on this day (I don't know if you can tell but I had cried all my make up off). The social work program is big on centering yourself (doing something you like to do) so you can stay sane and not burn out. I decided I needed a break from the shenanigans at the office. So I ran home and wore my hula out fit around my apartment for about an hour and then went back. There. Centered!

15 facts: Oh I am sorry.....15 INTERESTING facts:

1. I hate being called Debbie. (if you call me Debbie we will stop being friends)
2. I have been on 100 first dates
3. I have not read any of the twilight series and I never will
4. One day I want to sell everything I have and backpack through the world (or at least Europe).
5. I struggle with meeting new people and I don't like big groups. (I promise it's true)
6. I find it amusing to say things that will shock people or make them just a tad bit uncomfortable
7. I often have to restrain myself when some one I love is in need. (I go into take over mode and want to fix the problem)
8. I have been skinny dipping
9. My parents are two of my best friends
10. I have been the best man and attended a bachelor party. Yes, I said Bachelor party. And NO! I was not the entertainment.
11. I do not enjoy peanut butter.
12. I am very picky about my bottled water. (Arrowhead is my fave!)
13. I don't like playing sports that have any type of flying balls (it stems from childhood trauma)
14. I don't really have many favorites of things like food and color. I just don't like absolute statements.
15. I am better at driving a car backward then I am at driving it forward

My life: Build your own adventure!

As a teenager I some how got the reputation in my fam of someone who doesn't plan very well and who is not....how do you say it? Reliable? I wouldn't necessarily agree with that description. I like to say I was spontaneous and instinctive. When I was a kid and we got lost on family outings with my mother she'd simply say, "Let's follow our nose! We are on an adventure!" I may have taken that a little more seriously then my mother intended because I made it my motto. I would just follow my nose to the next adventure in life. Hakuna Matata!

I had friends who before my next exploit would ask me things like, "where are you going to stay?" and "how are you going to get there?" They always laughed and were never surprised when I'd shrug my shoulders and say, "I don't know. I guess we'll see!"

The last few years I have really surprised myself! Normally I do not stay in one place long enough to unpack my suit case let alone earn a Bachelors degree! But here I am two months away from wearing a muumuu and square hat! And you know what else? While I so uncharacteristically lived in Rexburg for three years I made some plans!

I planned to go straight to grad school in the advanced standing program, get my masters degree in clinical social work in one year, and then complete my advanced licensure to become an LCSW doing addiction counseling. Sounds pretty good right? Yeah I thought so too! For the first time I knew exactly where I was going to go and how I was going to get there.

A new discovery that I have made is: it feels really good when people ask me what my plans are to have an answer!

Okay, So what's the point? The point is that apparently you CAN'T teach an old dog new tricks. One night as I was preparing for the oh so planned out new adventure in my life, I hopped on line and sabotaged the whole thing! I applied for a great job that would definitely put a kink in my current life plan. I haven't heard much back from the employer other then they would LOVE to have some one with my experience and know how. I am pretty confident in my ability to land this post-grad job but I am not sure if I want to do it and stray from the map I had made.

So.....Deborah Diane is back to following her nose to the next adventure in life. Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? Where am I going to stay?

*Shrug* I don't know. *Wink* I guess we'll see!!