Sunday, May 31, 2009

Saying goodbye

My grandma died this morning. Praise the Lord she died peacefully in her sleep. I knew it was going to happen soon but I still grieve. She was the most Godly woman I've ever known. I've never seen someone live and breathe Christ's love like my grandmother. I know I'll see her again in heaven but I'm going to miss her.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Down but not out

For some reason, I've been feeling down the last couple days. I'm really tired. The cats will not let me sleep past 6 or 6:30. I've had nightmares almost every night for the past two weeks, insecurities rearing their ugly heads and confronting me in my dreams.

Hopefully Bible study tonight and church tomorrow morning will energize me for next week. Hubby has four days of work scheduled - Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. God has been providing for our every need.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sometimes all it takes is a couple hours away from home before I miss the solitude. Am I becoming anti-social?

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Wait for it... no, really.

I should have waited before I said anything about the job offer. Hubby and contract boss went back and forth on salary for awhile and discussed future possibilities but hubby didn't receive an official offer. Contract boss said he's going to do some figuring, some planning, etc. etc. before making hubby an official offer. So we're still waiting.

On a positive note, contract boss does have hubby lined up for some additional contract work. They have a meeting tomorrow with the client they worked with last week and they will be attempting to convince the client to hire them on permanently instead of it being a one time project. Also, the boss does have hubby in mind for a couple other projects.

We've been debating if the contract boss feels any need to hire hubby on permanently. The contract hourly rate is higher than the potential salary range, but the boss wouldn't have to provide full time hours if he kept hubby on for contracts. We're just waiting. And praying. And waiting some more, hoping a full time offer will come from somewhere. At least the contract hours plus my unemployment is enough to pay all the bills! That's an improvement from where we were a month ago.

Monday, May 25, 2009

MIA but with good reason

Forgive me for being MIA. I've been a bit distracted over here.

Hubby might, just might, be receiving a job offer tomorrow. We are really praying that the offer will come through. So far, all signs are positive and this is the most solid lead we've had yet. Oh, I so hope hubby will soon be working again!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

We went swimming in the rain! It was cold!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Plans

Tommorow will be an exciting day. In the morning, hubby and I are making pizza. We've switched around our menu to avoid using the oven in the hot afternoon/evening. I planned ahead and made the crust this afternoon. It's in the fridge, awaiting being rolled out and topped with sauce, mushrooms, and onions.

After breakfast, we'll visit the library to return a pile of books and pick up more. I compiled a list of books to check out - 17 of them ranging from memoir, biography, fiction, historical nonfiction, and religious inspiration.

The afternoon will be spent straightening up our spare bedroom because my brother arrives in town tomorrow night! He's only spending the night and will then be leaving to pick up his wife at the airport and drive back to his house. To kill time before Emme's flight arrives, we're going geocaching Friday morning! I'm hoping to locate 6 or 7 caches.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Social commentary?

Last night, hubby and I borrowed Bolt as our free Redbox movie. Based on the preview, I expected a tame, fairly clean kids animation. Wrong! The movie is rated PG, which I suppose is appropriate, but I was really surprised by the (bloodless) violence in the first 15 minutes. It reminded me of The Incredibles, another supposed kids movie that my children won't watch until they are teenagers.

However, after the first 15 minutes, Bolt reverted to a clean children's movie. It was really cute! My favorite line in the movie came from Mittens, Bolt's traveling partner. She exclaims that "this is a map of the whole world" and rolls out a map of the United States. Social commentary, anyone?

Monday, May 18, 2009

Oh, to eat burgers again!

The Lord reminded me this morning to spend some time in prayer and Bible study before starting my day. It was hard for me to sit still and read when I wanted to be up "doing" something but I'm happy I listened. I read three chapters in Mark about Jesus healing numerous people. It amazes me that the Jews had Jesus in their midst, heard Him preach, saw Him healing people, and still wanted to kill Him. I wonder if we would do the same today.

I pushed myself again to complete all of my "active" housework early in the day. I completed everything on my list, especially those jobs that require me to be moving around the apartment exerting energy. By 10:45 I ran the dishwasher, washed some pots by hand, baked cornbread, vacuumed, cleaned the two litter boxes, swept the kitchen and bathroom floors, took out the trash, swept the patio, and wiped down the toilet and bathroom sink.

Hubby was off work by 11 today. We ate lunch together and then hubby took a nap while I created a menu plan and shopping list for this week. In the heat of the day (100+ degrees), we decided to go grocery shopping. I didn't really want to leave the house while it was so hot out, but we desperately needed to buy food. Our fridge was completely empty except condiments and our cupboards held half a box of Cheerios, a couple cans of tomato soup, and some oatmeal. That's it.

What joy it was to walk around the grocery store and buy more than just pasta. Oh, what joy! I used to take it for granted that I could buy whatever groceries I wanted. For the first time in 5 months, I spent more than $25 shopping for a week's worth of food. Haystacks, potato salad, baked potatoes, stir fry, spaghetti, Boca burgers, homemade pizza, and macaroni and cheese are on the menu this week. Oh happy day! I spent $45 total by shopping the sales and printing out some great internet coupons, among them two free bottles of BBQ sauce!

I will never again allow myself to spend $100/week on groceries. That was our old food budget. Now that we've been broke, completely out of money, I've learned how to shop inexpensively. I know I still have a lot to learn compared to some of the expert shoppers, but I've made a huge dent in our grocery bill these past few months. We were even able to buy hubby some new socks!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Habit Sunday

I know I've posted about it before, but I have trouble getting everything done - cleaning, reading, cooking, spending time with hubby, taking care of the cats, etc. Our life has no formal schedule right now as hubby isn't working except for the occasional contract job. Last week was kind of crazy since he was out of town for a couple days and worked a contract job Wednesday through Friday. This is the first week in months that I've been home by myself during the day.

I love my hubby very very much. When he's home, I tend to just do things with him, whatever activity we decide we want to pursue. As a result, most of my housekeeping falls by the wayside. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with spending so much time with my husband. I just think that I'm letting him down in a way because our house isn't clean, I'm not organized, and I'm really bad about making a nice supper. When hubby was working, right after I got laid off, I was making nice dinners. I was happy to be the wife who would greet her hubby with a hot dinner after he arrived home from a long day of work. Because we're home all the time (excepting those days when hubby finds contract work), all our meals are kind of thrown together at the last minute.

We live in Arizona. It's May. It's hot. We're broke. We're also challenging ourselves to at least hold out until June before turning on the air conditioning and driving up the electric bill. Towards the end of last week, I discovered a very loose schedule that works wonders with this weather. If I plan my day so that the housework is done in the morning, it requires less sweat and effort. Then I can spend the afternoon job searching, writing, organizing, etc. All of these are things that require little movement.

Simple, right? I really wonder why I didn't think of it before. This schedule also tied in well with my attempts at creating new habits this week. My morning cleaning schedule involves dishes, vacuuming, making the bed, sweeping, and cleaning out the litter boxes. As I'm trying to complete all the housework in the mornings, I challenge myself to finish by 11 and end up creating a smooth flow as I move from room to room.

The only thing I'm falling behind on is my personal Bible reading. Hubby and I read together every night so I am reading the Bible daily. However, I'm only reading it on my own about half the week. I'll keep working on this.

My challenge this week is to fine tune my morning schedule and decide what tasks need completed daily versus weekly. I also need to spend more time in the afternoon looking for work.

Friday, May 15, 2009

100th Post

This is my 100th post. In commemoration of this auspicious event, I'd like to post one of my favorite Bible texts.

With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

(Micah 6:6-8, NASB)


Amen. May I ever walk humbly with my God.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Flight status

Delta has made my evening so much more enjoyable!



On Sunday, I could only track my hubby's flight status through the estimated time of arrival (he flew US Airways). Tonight, however, I can see where he is! I can refresh the page and it will show me approximately where the plane is, how much more time they have in-flight, and the estimated time of arrival.

Delta was brilliant to include this information on their website for excited wives such as I. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to wear to the airport...
Tip of the day -

Do not add a full packet of cheese to half a box of macaroni to "make it cheesier."

Blech.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Finished

The lawsuit against my hubby was dropped this morning.

Praise the Lord!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Habit Sunday

I didn't do so well with my goals last week. The only one I consistently followed through on was the personal Bible study. If I'm only going to complete one goal, Bible study is the best one to complete. The others aren't as important.

15 minutes of Bible study every morning - Completed every day
Making my bed - Completed most days. Did better at the beginning of the week and then started forgetting.
Keeping my sink shiny - Again, completed most days. I was doing really well with this at the beginning of the week and terrible toward the end.

I'm going to keep the same goals for this week. I want to continue my personal Bible study (I'm reading through Matthew in the Clear Word Bible). I also really need to get into the habit of making the bed and doing all the dishes daily. It'll be interesting to see how I do this week, as hubby is out of town and won't return until late Tuesday night. Then he's working the rest of the week so I'll be home by myself almost all of this week. Plenty of time for productivity!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Another interview

I went to another interview today. This one went way better than my last. I'll hear back on Monday or Tuesday.

Hubby flies out on Sunday to take care of his court stuff. He'll be back late Tuesday night. I'm nervous about being home by myself for three days but excited. I have some surprises planned for him. Unfortunately, I can't post about them as he reads my blog. ;)

I ran for 25 minutes yesterday without stopping! I was so excited when I finished. The running exhausted me but it was really satisfying to know I had successfully completed week 6 of my program. Three more weeks and I should be able to consistently run 30 minutes with no stopping! My first goal is to finish two miles in less than 30 minutes. I'm a turtle. I think I can walk faster than I can run.

We have Bible study tonight. I'm so excited. It's been several months since we've met for Bible study and I can't wait. Not sure yet what we'll be studying, but that's ok. It will be nice just to get together and read from the Bible.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Interview - blew it!

I had an interview today. I think I blew it. I'd be really surprised if I received a job offer. He's going to make a decision by late tomorrow morning.

It's been a long time since I've done a formal interview. I think it's been three years. In fact, I've only been to one formal interview. The rest of my jobs were informal interviews or I just sort of fell into them because of circumstances.

What do you tell a potential employer when they ask you to tell them about yourself? When that's the very first question in an interview, it's really hard to gauge what you should be telling them. I didn't prepare for that question and Ummmmm-ed my way through it today. Oops.

This evening, I received a phone call from a chiropractor's office that was interested in meeting me for an interview. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet their one available interview time tomorrow as my husband has work scheduled! Not sure if I should be disappointed or not. I'm thinking not because his work is more important than my interview!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Possibilities

Hubby had an interview today that lasted two and a half hours long. The recruiter loved him! This was a face to face with the recruiter who kept hubby on the phone last week for an hour and a half. Hubby is one of two candidates being submitted for this particular job. The recruiter says he likes hubby better than the other candidate and will be recommending him specifically to the client. We're looking forward to finding out if Jeff gets a job offer!

Also, hubby has been talking to a consultant about some contract work. Supposedly, if the contract work goes well, hubby will be getting a job offer from this company. We don't know yet if that will happen, but hubby has been assigned a 5 day contract starting next week. We're extremely excited about this as his paycheck will be quite a bit more than the unemployment check for that week. The state will keep their money if Jeff makes more at a contract job.

Nothing too exciting going on with my job search. The one job I really wanted was already filled. It was working as an office manager at a camp in a small town in northern Arizona. Hubby and I would be working together to run the front office and the computer systems. That would have been amazing because room and board was included, we would have been living in a cabin, and had access to all the outdoor activity we could possibly dream of! Oh, well. I guess God didn't want us to leave town just yet.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Shiny sink!

My sink is shiny! I washed, dried, and put away dishes after all three meals today. It was so nice having a clean kitchen. I also hung a picture of my brother and I, hammered a couple nails to hang keys right inside our front door, threw away some junk that had been sitting on the counter for months, and ran two loads of laundry.

I sold my wedding dress this afternoon. I didn't really want to, but we need the money. Also, it was just hanging in our spare bedroom closet taking up valuable space. I have wedding photos so I decided it was time to let go. The additional money will also help.

Hubby and I walked over to Walgreen's this morning and picked up our free Redbox rental. We watched Tales of Despereaux. It felt like an attempt to analyze social class differences. Hubby and I discussed many aspects of the movie, but it fell short. Too bad. It's hard to find quality, clean movies these days.

On the way back from Walgreen's, we stopped by Fry's and picked up some more bananas and strawberries. The bananas aren't ripe but I'm looking forward to strawberries tomorrow!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Update and SMART Sunday

My temp job seems to be over. I say "seems" because we finished the labeling project but I'm still waiting to hear if the company wants us to return for the original project. My partner and I worked 5 days, 26 hours total.

It was tiring! I'm just not used to the commute, the hours away from home, and the stress of working under someone else. I am very very thankful to God that He blessed me with the hours. It was just surprising that I'm so out of practice with working schedules. 6 months really does make a difference.

I'm excited to get back to blogging. Last week, I didn't really have the energy after work to form coherent thoughts. I love writing and this is one way I can express myself, regardless if anyone reads!

I am also making a change to my Sunday blogging. I was posting a summary of my exercise over the past week and then a weigh in report. I found myself wanting to write more about some of the workouts and my challenges. However, I didn't want to post every day on this blog as that wasn't my original intent in starting the blog. I also didn't want to post an entire book every Sunday.

My solution? I started a separate blog for my exercise/weigh-ins/and future raw food challenge. Adventist Runner will be my new training log and anything health related that doesn't fit in nicely with homemaking.

Instead, I plan on posting SMART Sundays. The Lazy Organizer originally created the SMART Saturday, but as that is the day I celebrate the Sabbath, I'll be posting on Sundays. I know I posted about The Lazy Organizer's blog before, but she really is a genius about organizing and homemaking. I love reading her posts.

My goals for this week:
-Make the bed every day. I really like how our bedroom looks when the bed is made up in the mornings.
-Go to bed each night with a shiny sink. This is really a Flylady concept. The idea is to have a clean sink at night, which means the dishes will be washed and put away, the counters will be wiped down, and the sink will be clean. The kitchen looks so much better when the sink is shiny.
-Spend 15 minutes in personal Bible study each morning. Hubby and I study together every night but I'm missing personal study. It's not enough that we study together. I also need to be fed spiritually as an individual. 15 minutes isn't that long, but I think it's a good place to start.

I'll post again next Sunday with an update of my goals and possibly some new goals for the following week.