It's Emmy's Night!

It's that time of year again, time for the Emmy's!!!  I love awards shows (though, I have to admit, I usually get bored about 30 minutes into them and start multi-tasking during the show), and I think these days, the Emmy's are my favorite!  When I was younger, it used to be the Grammy's, but let's face it, a middle-aged woman has pretty much no clue who a lot of the recording artists are these days, so Emmys it is.

So, will you be watching and if so, who are your favorites that you are hoping to win?  Mine?  I absolutely loved watching Glee and Modern Family this past year.

What an uplifting show Glee is!!!  I pretty much love all of the characters (Sue Sylvester is the best - such delicious nastiness!) and love singing along to a lot of the numbers.  And, then there's Modern Family.  Oh, what to say about Modern Family in a quick blog post???  That show is an absolute SCREAM!!!  Love the fact that there is no laugh track and I always get a kick out of The Office-style of shooting a show where the characters look at the camera as if they are attempting to connect with us.  And, can I just say, I am TOTALLY Claire!  The episode where she couldn't figure out the remote??? - me all the way!  And, when she woke up early to get in line to buy her hubby an IPad, only to fall asleep on the couch while getting ready to leave??? - me!  And, then while waiting in line to buy the IPad, only to find out the credit card is instead at home with her wallet??? - me!  And, that is what is so endearing about this show.  If you, yourself can't identify with a character, you can for sure connect someone you know to at least one of the characters and wonder, "How on earth did the writers nail so and so???!!!".  If you haven't seen this show (be sure to click on the show names above to watch a promo of the show), you have to give it a gander this fall (yes, I just said "gander").  You have to pay close attention to not miss a thing and just to be safe, Tivo, DVR, etc. (whatever your mode of recording is) the show to do what we do - we end up watching it again and again during the week - to catch every last little hysterical comment/face that was made.

So, get your popcorn ready, put your feet up and enjoy The Emmy's.  And, for the first time in a long time, my award show-watching buddy will not be with me (and you know who you are - the fact that you might be too busy having fun to even watch the show makes it totally forgiveable).  Another little way that life is changing in the Franz household.

Being His Hands and Feet

Today, a group of us had the opportunity to reach out to a new friend, Amy (a new friend to me) and be God's hands and feet to her.  Her father recently passed away and because she was being a dear soul to take good care of him in his dying days, she was unable to give her beloved gardens the attention she usually likes to.  And, as we all know, unless you can stay on top of your gardens regularly, they can become overcome with weeds.  A friend and workmate of Amy's, Meagan, was given the idea to gather a group of women together to help Amy combat this task.  You see, last year, Amy was God's hands and feet to Meagan as she battled stage 3 breast cancer.  One of Meagan's favorite gifts during that time from Amy was a scrapbook to uplift and encourage Meagan through her battle.  So Meagan put out the word, and friends from church and their workplace, Lou Malnatis (big, huge YUM!), showed up with tools in hand to do the best we could to give Amy a good jumpstart on recovering her lovely gardens.  It was a complete surprise to Amy when Meagan knocked on her door with sign and balloons in hand at 8 a.m. Amy quickly composed herself and we helpers started to trickle in.

Meagan and Amy - Surprise!!!

 Amy worked along side us and we got to know one another and enjoyed some really good fellowship time while putting in some good, hard work and helping a friend at the same time.

Betty & Sue

I was also so touched and impressed by a couple of the ladies who went the extra mile to add to the fun and comfort of the day.  One woman, Sue, made the most delicious zucchini bread ever and brought a cooler of water bottles to share and another woman, Wendy, brought everything the rest of us seemed to forget (plenty of kneelers, garden waste bags, donuts - those are totally necessary when gardening, right?) along with a gift for Amy and some pansies to add more colors to the gardens.  Very thoughtful of you, ladies.

Wendy D. - the Oh-So-Dramatic Gardener (but she brings donuts, so we'll forgive her!)

More friends helping in the backyard.

We even had Meagan's wonderful husband join us so that was nice too!

This isn't Meagan's husband, but it is Meagan!

As life goes on and we all have our ups and downs, I know so many wonder, "What's the point?  I mean, why am I even here?"  God needs you, with your special giftedness, at this exact time, to be here on earth being his hands, feet and voice for him.  It just plain and simply comes down to that.  Sure, some of us are gifted writers, writing fabulous, inspiring books and some of us are gifted speakers and others are gifted to be brave, hard-working missionaries, but there isn't a day that goes by that someone in your immediate life doesn't need a hand or a kind word.  Be that person for them.  There's a reason it feels so good (and it ALWAYS does) - it's what we're here to do!

Amy's adorable cottage home.