Holidays...Shmallidays

Stress much? This past month has been one of stress, sickness, depression, marital discovery, drama, basically your normal December.

Thanksgivin

Thanksgiving Take Two:

Well here is the shake down on our second Thanksgiving together. Traditionally my family takes turns seeing family during the Thanksgiving season, last year we spent with my family for half of the day and then the second half with his. We then flew to Alabama for about two weeks to spend the Christmas Holiday with his family. As mentioned in earlier posts I am very excited to have our first 'at home' holiday season.

To hit the insanity off we had our first official Dexter year. After a stressful past two weeks (sliced finger open, Grandfather fell off a tree and broke his skull resulting in six staples, complications with fall causes need to surgery, computer goes officially kaput must buy a new-yes cause THAT IS what I wanted to do with all of my money- I mean I didn't really mean to drop it...it was all a surprise phone call...the shock made me do it, insanity preparation for thanksgiving begin). All in all we held together pretty well...I think. David really stepped up and helped out around the house. We were able to get almost everything finished that I was worried about (did I mention my four page to-do list? Oh well, too late now.) I am really blessed.



I was asked to make pies this year (same as last) and once again tried to figure out the recipe for the custard pies from the restaurant I use to work at. I thought I did pretty good but the family poo-pooed the attempt, at least David's family was appreciative. There was a little confusion about making a cream pie, guess we will fix that one next time though. After a dinner full of family and funny stories we took the little kids to the park. This park has so many slides and fun fun stuff, I kinda wish that I had played there when I was a kid. After a while we noticed the smallest member of our party was shaking with cold so we headed back to grandma's house to play several serious rounds of Candy Land. Honestly this was probably my favorite memory of the entire day. David's brother Stephen and I have never really spent a ton of time interacting together and during our game of Candy Land (which he totally trashed us all) we had a really great time!

The next day (or rather later that night) David and I headed out for our traditional day after Thanksgiving shopping. This has long been one of my personal traditions, one I share with a few friends and my mother, but this is only David's second year. Last year he was very shell shocked and struggled to keep up in the throngs, but after training at Disneyland he promptly took control this year and scored himself a new television, portable hard drive, and well thats about it. by the end of the day we were completely exhausted. David was able to squeeze in a nap and then ventured out later that night for a movie with his family.

Shining Moment

After one very depressing week my husband once again turned the weekend into something quite wonderful. Sunday David and I went to church and discussed the future in silly and quite serious terms. It was interesting that both sides were in the conversation. Anyway, Sunday night after our home teacher left we had some much coveted 'us' time. We watched television, David did his homework (while sitting on the floor) and I layed on the couch behind him and cut coupons. After an hour or two of this David turned to me and said, "this is it. This is our Shining Moment." It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, once I figured it out my heart just about melted. He is so sweet, honestly most days I do not deserve this man. Then later that week as I started blogging about this he took over my computer and typed the following:

It was peace, it was comfort, kayde is the best woman in the whole wide world. and is the most amazingest and i love her more.

Stress

Well the month is slowly edging along. As we all know there was a slight dysfunction in our clocks the past couple days. I have been looking forward to setting the clock back as we get to gain an hour of sleep! When it finally got here I actually forgot. I woke up Sunday morning and got very excited as I thought I had slept in until 7:30. It was so exciting. I got up went to the bathroom and as I returned I realized that it was actually 6:30 and I had woken up at the same time I normally do. It was very sad. I still have not fixed the clocks and it has been rather amusing attempting to figure out what time it really is. Kinda odd how the day stretches and changes based on our perceptions.



Anyway back to the stress comment. I am so excited for Christmas this year. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the hubby can't wait to start our 'first' Christmas together. Last year we spent Christmas with his family, saying goodbye to Alabama and such. I am excited to have our very own Christmas this year where we can incorporate both of our traditions and create our own new family traditions. My mom keeps trying to convince us that we want to spend Christmas eve at here house but I would rather just spend it with David. This will be the first time I could have spent it with her and choose not too.

As for the past week things have been hectic at work but boring in the evening. David has had to work until at least 10 every night and we crash as soon as he gets home, therefore I never see him. It really really sucks. We found out about a week ago that his parents and older brother will be staying with us for thanksgiving. We are excited but the wife syndrome hit a couple of days later. My house needs to be UBER clean, gotta have good food (sorry Dean I am not buying whole milk, don't think I will have room in the fridge and we don't drink it), gotta rearrange to fit everyone, figure out where to put everything, and make everyone comfortable. I know I am going overboard but I stress when I don't know details, ya know? This thanksgiving should be a blast and it will be great to see his family for more than a couple of hours. The only down side to this is not being able to set up the Christmas tree. As stated above I am totally psyched for Christmas and wanted to set it up the day before thanksgiving as Christmas season officially starts at 2 a.m. on black Friday and I will not have time or the mental capabilities to do it after (excuse). Oh well you can mock me all you want but I am SO excited!!! Anyway as stated David has been gone and while I know I need to clean I have been stressing about how much work there is to do and how overwhelmed I feel and because of this have not been doing much other than watch t.v.. Saturday was such a day and I ended up ripping 30 cd's to my itunes and for my younger brother and typing up a four page to-do list to prepare for the holidays.

Must hop to it!

P.S. I love Zumba just in case you were wondering.

October (in November) Part 2

Okay well so I lied about posting the next day...sorry. (that last bit was said with extreme sarcasm if you don't notice.) On to the rest of October. P.S. This will lead to the previously mentioned scary. Just so you are warned.

After the insanity of the month we decided (or rather were told by some) to have a Halloween party with some friends from work. Basically we started this whole game night thing before we were married and it continued for quite sometime. Last year we decided to have a Halloween party and I got the brilliant idea to make Chili. Now my maternal line are all very good cooks (paternal too) and I have watched for years and feel like I know how to do it as I help with preparation but that was the first time that I had made it solely by myself. Well it was a hit! So much so that I was told that I was to make it again. Who am I to go against the party planners? jk. Below you see the merry carvers. As always it became quite the competition. You see last time David and Hilary decided to start smack talking each other. It was epic. In the end Hilary's pumpkin ended up 'writing' a suicide note stating that it could not hold up under the pressure. This was again the theme this year as Hilary's 'pumkin' left her a message on facebook. This time it exploded under the pressure (via video of course).

Then on Friday before Halloween we went to the ward Halloween party. This was quite the event. We went dressed as Mario and Princess Peach, our friends and next door neighbors came as Luigi and Princess Daisy. David and Seth made the perfect characters, both looking and acting the part. The highlights of the night were the doughnut on a string contest. (David's first by the way). One gentleman behind me stated that it was a classic confrontation Mario Vs. Luigi.The last and final event of the evening was the Fear Factor. Fittingly enough the power went out and we had to use flash camera and flash light. The boys (neither of which could be out done by the other) went through the rounds to eat

1. Bone Marrow

2. Baby Whale Eyes

3. Whale Blubber

4. Utah Lake Sardines

5. A live Goldfish. Yes my friends a LIVE goldfish. Just in case you are wondering a gold fish can stay alive for at least a minute in your stomach. Please do not try this at home. I about lost my lunch watching them. Below you can see David proving that it is not hidden in his mouth! YUCK!!!

We did not celebrate Halloween in the normal sense of the holiday. Instead David went to school and then came home to cuddle for a bit before running some errands, wandering throughout the mall hand in hand, and then David even asked me on a date! We tried to go see a movie last week and when we realized that we were two hours early we grabbed some sushi and when we returned the movie was sold out. This week we thought ahead and bought tickets THEN went to get our dinner, buy Bones season 4!!!, and just spend time talking about our future and being all gushy and cuddly. It was a wonderful day. Towards the end David received a text from one of my cousins dis-inviting him to the Thanksgiving day Turkey Bowl (something they totally forgot to invite him to last year) as we were 'to good' to come to the family get together at grandmas, something which I had forgotten about as we do not have children to take around...oops.

October in a Nutshell pt. 1

Well since it is the end of the month and I have slacked lately in my postingness I bring you the month of October!!! This blog will be a blog in pictures (with captioned stories of course). There is the good, the bad, and the SERIOUSLY DISGUSTING involved. Faint of heart you may want to back away now.

First the odd. Note to self....Do NOT knock the spray cheese off of the kitchen counter...the pressure inside will cause it to spray everywhere, even when you try to pick it up and fix it.

Next David decided to cook me some dinner. Actually I think I kinda forced him into it as when I sent him to go grocery shopping he bought strange and exotic things. I have learned over the course of our marriage that it is never a good idea to send the hubby shopping on his own. When doing so he will inevitably show up with a menagerie of random junk. This time he bought risotto, something which I have heard Chef Ramsey yell about but have never see in person.

Next we travel to my parents house. They were babysitting for my older sister Stacy. Stacy has the three most adorable children ever. Here we see the youngest of her brood 'helping' do the dishes. In reality she was pulling spices out of the spice cupboard and loading them into the dishwasher. Much to my mother's chagrin.

About mid month I realized that I was wearing the wrong pants to work. The cart ate my pants. It took a while to figure out how to take them back.
Over fall break David's older brother Stephen came and staid with us. It was really interesting to see how we interacted as a family type unit. This sounds odd I know but for once it was not just the two of us. We suddenly had someone else to focus on and make sure we were working together to care for. As many of you know we have been contemplating moving on to the next phase and it was actually great to almost play house so to speak. ...Maybe that is the wrong way to put it, but you know what I mean.

Well thats all for tonight. Tomorrow I will finish filling you all in with the oh so scary Halloween special.

Come sign up!!!

I need friends to sign up for a class with me. Next wed (I know its late notice) there is a quilt class at Gracie Lou's, quite possibly the best quilting store ever! Its called Vintage Circles and makes a great baby or big sized quilt using your scraps!

October 27- Vintage CirclesThis is a super cute baby quilt. Fun to make and the pattern gives you instructions to make a bigger one. Fast and easy. Soft edges all pieced and quilted at once. You will need 2 charm packs or 64 5" squares. 1 1/4 yd light fabric, 1 1/4 backing and batting, 505 adhesive spray, glue stick, wash out marking pen. Pattern and some prep work required. Cost for class $15.00
http://gracielousquilts.blogspot.com/p/class-schedule.html

Homebody

Feeling very Betty Crockerish tonight. The past couple of days have been kinda surreal. David had not really had any homework and we have been able to perform much like your average family. I get home from work, run errands, spend time with my fam and cook dinner for said fam. It has been wonderful.

David's older brother Stephen stayed overnight with us yesterday. That in and of itself was great. Stephen is a ray of sunshine. I loved getting to know him a bit better and feeling as if we were a family and not just the two of us....Odd I know but it was a complete feeling and I really liked it. Wish Stephen could have staid longer.

Tonight the feeling was still here. David and I watched Glee together and then later I decided it was time to bake a cake/bread/make dinner all at the same time. Hence the Bettyness. I love it our house smells like chocolate goo from the ice cream cake and dinner is gonna be delish! You will all be jealous of the bread as well. Maybe one day if I'm nice, and also if I get any requests on here I will post my mother-in-laws amazing bread recipe that I have only managed to destroy once. The funny thing is I made it for months before I realized I was only putting in half of the butter required and it still turned out great. Last time I think the flop happened a cause I was in a funk as well as I made my first single recipe instead of doubling as usual. Therefor some items were doubled and others put in correctly. Well time to go check the cake and finish the bread. TTFN!

Confession.

Okay so I will admit it. I am lazy. After last weeks deep clean of the house (which somehow missed a vacuum...oops), and a crazy work schedule for the week I did nothing.

Oh last Sunday we did clean out our refrigerator and freezer. It is wide and spacious looking now. The vast amount of food thrown away made me sick to imagine the food transformed into money. I am trying to watch those types of things much better. Back on the lazy topic. So other than that all I did was request that the hubby do dishes one day. This he did...in a small amount and nothing else moved.

The problem with this apparent lack of motivation hit me today as I realized something. The in-laws are coming tomorrow! They have a convention in Vegas and will be dropping David's brother off to stay with us in the interim. AHHH The house is a semi disaster. Mainly the kitchen and dishes and I have zero ambition to clean them. I talked with David about the need to clean and he assured me he would take care of everything. As I have not been feeling well he told me to sleep whilst he 'cleaned.'


Four Hours Later

I awaken to realize that said hubby has been playing his new video game the entire time I was sleeping. I hurriedly got up, cleaned the bathroom, and fought with him as he debated about his right to stop and clean instead of cleaning the business building (side job to earn some money). In the end I kicked him out while I did the dishes. Fast forward one day. David cleaned a bit more of the house, mainly he vacuumed, did a load of laundry, dumped it on the bed, and packed stuff into the storage area/car. Now that I am home I need to mop, finish the dishes, prepare the guest room, clean the bathroom, and grab a gift for my neighbor who should be giving birth sometime soon. What am I doing instead? Laying on the couch, resting my head and updating my blog...oops. Hopefully I get it all done. Right?

Important Weekend!

Doesn't it always seem like the weekends are too full to think straight? This past month has definitely NOT been the exception. There has been lots of family projects. Namely canning. We have done Salsa, Jam, Pears, Tomatoes, etc.

After all of the production stuff I decided that I wanted to surprise my husband. In a whole myriad of ways. As for the surprises I made sure not to post anything on here, as the hubby reads every now and again, about my plans for last weekend. So I will now lay it all out (after the fact). Last week I completely rearranged and organized a good 3/4ths of the house. It was exciting and fun. No honestly, it was. I banned my adorable husband from half of the house. Shockingly he was fine with that. Although I did not completely finish it is much cleaner than before and feels all new and shiny.

The reason behind this craziness was two/three fold.

1. Completely rearranged house! New and shiny feeling. Surprise for David as he knew something was up but no idea what. He later admitted that he thought I was pregnant and that he would get past my contrived barrier and find a crib. Really the surprise was that he did not have to help.



2. Surprise #2. New toothbrushes. This was an accident. I dropped his in the bathroom cleaner....oops.



3. David's sister Katherine was coming down from Cheyenne for the weekend. A tidbit of information which I declined to tell the husband figure. He once again disappointed a bit on the ultimate surprise of the day. As with surprise #1 and 2 he had a good reaction (but he had all week to build it up), for the real deal he just stared and acted like it was totally normal. He eventually asked me where his parents were, thinking they were all in town.

All in all we had alot of fun. Other news includes a decision. Shhhhh. I have made a dr. apt. and it is all up to your imagination as to what is happening there. Sorry you know those privacy laws, dr. pt. confidentiality and all.

Because Sometimes We Just Need a Reminder

Please watch the video below. It really helped me out today. Comment if you so desire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=654QGjYHlJY

Life finding its course

Well, life is interesting. Thats for sure. I love the new job. It is definitely a new dynamic but its kinda nice to change pace and have a significant drop in drama. The only crappy thing is that David works till 10 three days per week. Used to be that this did not bother me as I was working crazy hours at multiple jobs s0 I would just wait around a bit for him.

While doing all of this fun stuff I have finally found the camera cord!!! YEAH! This means I can finally upload some photos! The photo above is a bouquet of flowers David created for me on our anniversary. That day was amazing by the way I woke to a beautiful arrangement of flowers and an iHome. I did have to stop by the bank that day, but after I was finished we drove to Manti and went through a session at the temple. That day was amazing. It was like we were reenacting our wedding day. We even got to see the room we were sealed in. After our great session we hurried back to Orem to grab dinner at our favorite restaurant Pizzaria 712. I love that place. We started going there back when we were dating. Anywho back to the present.

Since things are actually starting to calm down I have been catching up on past television shows, cleaning, crafting, and plain ole being lazy. The odd thing is I am very happy/content but feel totally unlike myself. I have been very standoffish towards my husband and any physical contact....its odd, and not so good. Oh well, we will figure it out eventually.

Presents for Me!

SO excited!!! So the other day I am at work when I feel my (scuze my language) bra vibrate. Yes, I am one of those girls who when I do not have a pocket (or sometimes even when I do) will use the convenience I was born to and store items, namely my phone, there. I check my phone as any responsible manager whose boss may be calling, would do. Imagine my surprise when I realize that my mother is calling me...mid day. Oh speaking of which I should probably call her soon. I answer the phone to find out she is just leaving the funeral of an old family friend. As I talk with her she decides that she NEEDS to stop by work to give me some mail, instead of just giving it to me later in the evening. Come to find out she had an ulterior motive. It seems as she was reading the newspaper her eye fell upon an add for a Sewing Machine/Serger by Necchi. It cost 199.99 and she was wondering if I would like to go in halvsies. Heck yes!!! I was so excited.

Saturday, after much family guilt over canning and just stupidness, we went shopping at Gracie Lou's Quilt Shop. While there we found the perfect bag for a 'diaper bag'....purse? I promptly bought the items needed to make it. We then grabbed a burger at Berry's. For those of you who are not from the Spanish Fork area, these people have THE BEST burgers. Granted I have not been taking my medication as I should so just eating the fries caused a bit of a stomach upset. As we ate we drove to Kmart in Provo and the day after shopper in me came out. I rushed to the line and jittered around scared that I would not get my machine. Imagine my surprise when I find out that there is not one but THREE machines to choose from. Mom held my place in line while I choose which machine we would get. I went with the most expensive, but it had all the best features and who can say no to that kind of a deal? One machine, a collection of all feet made for the machine, and a carrying case later we were on our way.

All in all I am still very excited. I have only had a few minutes to work with the machine and can't wait to start working on it. Hello old projects that really need to be finished! I can't wait to work on new Christmas projects.

Other than my new toy, lets see...what is new in life? My little brother is on a mission. I am sure that I have mentioned this before, well I received a letter from him last week. We have not written in a few weeks as he just got out in the field and we did not have his new address. I am sending a package tomorrow. Can't wait till I get his response to it. My friend KT or little Katie from high school is coming out this spring! She just had a baby two months ago. I can't wait to see him. Hopefully they will be able to stay with us or at least hang out for an evening.

David is trying super hard to be a good husband. We had a couple rocky weeks, one in particular where he choose his friends over me. I did not take that very well. We have been discussing the baby topic quite a bit and know that we need to make sure we are in a place we are comfortable with before changing our lives forever.

New Job and a Shopping Trip

Well so far so good? Things are going as well as can be expected. Pay day finally arrived, which means hypothetically we can pay our bills. Now I just need the time to sit down and take care of them. Oops. As for work things seem to be going okay. They defiantly could be going better. I am still trying to figure out the in's and out's of this job, while my employees are trying to get used to me and my randomness.

Last week was pretty humdrum. For the most part I worked and tried to get used to actually accomplishing my new job and 'fixing' the many problems I stumbled across. In the end I was basically told it is my job to be in every place at once. While I expected this to an extent or even hypothetically, I was told it in reality, as some of the said problems are getting pretty bad. Oh well, what can a girl do? Her best I suppose.

So here I sit, after an exhausting week of running around. Watching the hubby read his homework. This class is not very fun. All he does is read and randomly run his fingers over which ever portion of my body is closest to him at the time. Math is my favorite one to watch as he talks to himself and becomes very animated as he studies.

The only problem with this new schedule is that some days I have a lot of time on my hands waiting for him to come home. I can tell you one thing, my house has not been this clean in a long while. By the end of last week I was going crazy. This week has somehow flown by without a chance to get bored, with the exception of tonight. Tonight I got off work came home checked my usual websites, paid the bills, and took a short 5-10 min nap. After that was all said and done I started to run errands. The purpose of these errands was to not spend a lot of money but to grab paper for work and some dinner. Well things did not go quite according to plan.

• Gandolfos: Ordered my dinner. Forgot to tell man that I did not want ham...Oh well, guess I get to pick that off. Oh and they have no Coke products! So I went thirsty.
• Honks: First time for me in this particular dollar store. They have a decent assortment but not what I was looking for. I left with a mouse pad, and two other MUST have items.
• DI: Found a beautiful hand made baby dress...? Guess I had to have that one. Picked up part of David's Halloween costume. He is going to be Mario, all cause he can grow the 'stache.'
• Dollar store #2. This store should not be called a dollar store. Yeah things cost a dollar...or fifteen? Didn't buy anything they had no paper and while their towels were nice I refused to buy unless I found something I really needed. How is that for will power?
• Dollar store #3. Hit the mother load. Here I bought lots of paper for work. Check. The shopping trip is now a success. Found the one thing we were looking for, oh wait whats that over there?! Reward with Coke. Check. Buy dollar store pregnancy tests. Check. Buy new toenail polish, red of course. Oh a first aid kit for the car, think I will. Gallons of water? Food storage might be nice. All in all spent more than planning at this particular store.
• Smiths: While leaving to head home I received a call saying I needed to buy some mason jars. As I just so happened to be next to Smiths I made the detour. One 12 pack of bottles and a BLOND wig later I am on my way home.

Ahhh. So as we can see from the list above I had a successful trip. I found my paper and all is well in the world. If only all shopping trips could go so well, and maybe next time a little easier on the checkbook?

Stop! I wanna get off!!!

I feel like I am on a roller coaster (of life) and then I remember...I don't like roller coasters (just the super scary ones). The past few weeks have been rediculous! First crazy schedules working three (four) different jobs, trying to be a wife but failing misserably as I just sleep at home, and ending in an emotional weekend/beginning.

So as I started this whole job exchange thing I knew my hours would be cut into a bit and things might be hard at first...I did not realize how hard life would really hit us. I am not attending school this year and this fall is David's first full time semester. We applied for financial aid as always and waited anxiously for the response. We expected to get some help, and hoped that it would cover everything. Shucks darn, we need to learn not to hope I guess. So far his FAFSA has been audited, which included redoing our taxes (-1000), a FAILED camping trip (oh the camping was fine, it was our personalities that failed), and yet again payroll has had some fun with our paychecks. Honestly the problem has never been theirs, I know who keeps oopsing and I still love them but UGG! I can't take much more of this!

Hopefully David's classes wont get dropped, the grant will eventually come through, and we can stop struggling, get on top of it all, and survive...right?

"Ya can't always get what you want...but if you try sometimes you just might find, youl'll get what you need."-wow Glee really puts it in perspective somedays.

Beating the horse

So once again I am back on a baby kick. There are a couple of very bad things assisting this problem. #1. My hubby. He tells me daily to go to the doctor and get rid of my birth control so we can get pregnant like...tomorrow. #2. We have insurance now, pretty good insurance actually and therefore my main stance against pregnancy has just been kicked out from under me. Oh joy. I know we will be getting pregnant but when is the deciding factor...and can I do this?!?! There are needles...and PAIN involved. And I'm not just talking about the labor/delivery part...in my mothers words an eternity of pain will follow. Do I really want to do this? Yup. I must be a glutton for punishment. Oh joy.

So basically readers what I ask of you is how do you prepare? Where should I look? Ya see, I am a compulsive planner. I like knowing every aspect of every detail and being prepared for multiple outcomes. Not a big surprise person. Unless they are good and someone can sneak them up on me without me finding out (and good luck on that part).

Interesting Fact

I just learned that blogger tracks all of my readers! This is sad that I actually care but it was interesting to say the least. Honestly I think most of the views were me checking to see if the blog really existed.....? Yeah I'm odd. So thank you to all of you, especially the four whole viewers from Canada. Those four I KNOW were not me. Can't wait to tell the hubby.

New Beginnings

This post emphasizes the largest sense of that word. I have been 'training' for my new job. I say it that way because the person that was training me could only come in while I was not there..? Yeah it didn't make a lot of sense but it was the only thing that worked out. So for the most part I am leaning heavily on my people and trying to pick up the learning curve FAST. Things are winding up at the bank. It really sucks but I know that this is the best decision for our family.

David has started school and is studying away like a pro. Now I just have to hope that things continue this way. He has been studying every night without me even reminding him. The only thing I have asked him to do is use a planner, write down his due dates and make sure he stays on top of them. He was so proud to tell me about the first time he actually wrote in it. YEAH!!!!

This whole working fourteen hours thing has been killing me, and as such I have finally cracked and told them that I can not do it any more. Last night was my last night working in the food court. Sad day. On to greener pastures? Honestly the exhaustion is starting to kill me. With all of the work and stress I still have to be a wife, clean the house, be organized, help the husband figure, and deal with life in general. With all of it migraines have set in, I think sleep will solve the problem....well at least we pray it will.

Insanity

Someone please remind me the next time I plan out every aspect of my life, clear down to the minor details, that not all of it will work so perfectly. Usually the things that involve me cleaning the house is what falls off the band wagon first. As you can see this is NOT a picture of me below. My house is a complete disaster.

Other than my house falling apart things are going pretty well. I am working three jobs for the next two weeks. Times listed here:

1. 7-10:40
2. 11:00-3:00
3. 3:30-8:30
   

As you can see people think I am only working a short shift and that I should be excited and rearin' to go...sadly the energy is begining to wear of and it is only day 3. URG. Well must get back to work!

Well...I did it. I accepted the job...now to give final notice. I want to give two weeks, they want me to give two weeks, but the new job is not going to let me?!?!?!? Maybe I can figure something out.........I pray I can. So scared.

Uncertainties

First of all I am sorry to those of you who actually follow my blog. I doubt I have any actual 'blog stalkers' such as myself and my serial reading of other peoples blogs. I am so excited about my new found ability to design and alter my blog! (As you may have noticed) I think we have reached the final stage in blog design, David even picked this one out.





So remember how excited I was about this whole new job thing? Well I'm still loving it and the people I am working with are great...now comes the problem. I have an interview later today for a full-time position at the college. The closer the interview gets the more hopeful I get, when a little voice inside my head screams that it could be a mistake! The bank is good! They have done so much for me. All in all both jobs would be good for me.

The College

• Benefits. They would kick in in oh say three months and DUH total positive!


• Included in these benefits are the usual INSURANCE every newlyweds dream come true! as well as full-time tuition for David and myself.


• I know the job for the most part. Having worked there for the past few years I know the people, procedure and protocol. Basically we got our P's covered now to find out the answer on the Q's.

• Cons: I Love the bank. The people are friendly and fun to work with, as David puts it I am not 'over working myself,' and will eventually get off at a decent hour. Although at the college I would actually be getting off an hour earlier each day.
• I have had a few problems with co-workers and the kitchen drama, and would definatly love getting away from it...granted I will find that at all work places.

The Bank

• I love working here, the people are fun, the members are great, and its new and exciting. I have little responsibility which leads to a LOT less stress.
• The hours are great, there is much more possibility in moving up or to different positions.
• The benefits (other than insurance) are actually pretty nice and a good perk.
• I learn all kinds of great things about banking and how to be a better saver.
• I like it.... :o(

So all in all I am a little stressed over the entire situation. As this blog has taken a few days to write I have actually interviewed and now am waiting for the verdict. It really sucks as my boss is trying to get ahold of me to talk but I am at the bank for the next two days. How is that for timing.

Life Changes

Well things have changed a bit in our lives. David is preparing for school. We are switching gears a bit. Now that I am graduated I get to work the bulk of the time and attempt to bring in the dough while he takes full time credits for the first time ever. SCARY! While I am a bit concerned about his sanity and grades, I have taken steps to assure myself that things will be okay.

• First: I have assured that he has a 'study' budy in each and every class.
• Second: I have bribed said study buddies to ensure he studies well and recieves an "A." You see I have asked them what their favorite baked/cooked item is. So far I have one request for my special Zuchinni bread and one for my mother-in-laws oh so AMAZING Cornmeal bread. Best part is there will still be stuff around my house for us to eat when I make these things.
• Third: I am in the process of scheduling special 'study' sessions for said parties.

All in all if things go as I want them to David will recieve straight "A's"....(insert laughing here)....and I will be a supportive wife and help him through 'his' stressful time.

As for me, I will recently started working for a local credit union and in all honesty, I am LOVING it. The people are great, the members are sweethearts and I look forward to going to work everyday. Now if I can only not make so many mistakes. I am continuing to work at the college first thing in the mornings as well as the evenings so I should be getting close to or more than 40 hours per week.

The end goal in this insanity is to get out of debt, save oh say...$7,500 and prepare to start a family. The only problem we are running into is the fact that I really enjoy spending money on said future family...oops? Pictures of items to follow.

Months, time, ooops

Well as with all journals I have fallen off of the band wagon. My oh so laid back, get everything accomplished, relax, sew, party, catch up on family history, summer is now gone. Sad day. Ya see things have been crazyness in a nutshell. We went to Lake Powell for a week in June.

As you can see there were some good as well as some bad times. Then in July we ran away for a family reunion as well as a magical Disney getaway. Sorry pics have not yet been uploaded from that particular adventure. Side notes for now: David likes to break down the rides....just so you know.

What else in our quicky update??? I finally found a new job. I am working with UCCU, which actually I really enjoy. Crappy thing is two days after I told my boss I was quitting they had a full-time position open up at the college....hows that for Karma?

Sick.

Ugggg. So last week my family went hiking in Goblin Valley aka The Valley of the Goblins. It was a ton of fun. We crawled over rocks, met my brothers girlfriend (we all approve), got lost for an hour or so, had a bit of heat exhaustion, and so on......As we returned from said trip (which lasted all of 18 hours by the by) husband and I were not feeling oh so hot. I debated about calling in sick to work the next day only to receive a phone call from my counterpart telling me he was deathly ill and would not be able to work. What could I do? I went to work and worked both shifts. Later that night I again was not feeling so hot and a few hours later it was revealed to me why.

I had waited to long between my meetings with the porcelain alter. Needless to say it was the flu. I called those who needed to know and spent the day crashed on the couch for the day. Hubby was a sweet heart and tried to take care of me the best he could even while he worked the entire day. All in all the lesson of the story is -Kayde does not do well to sitting still for extended periods of time. I hate it! I honestly felt like I was in time out as the week went on. When I did return to work I had to take it easy and coming home meant laying on the couch...oh joy.

Post Graduation.......bliss????

Wow, it has been an entire month. This time last month I was bouncing with excitement at the thought that I would graduate in one week. Well the blessed (cursed) day came, David left that morning for work around 4/5 a.m., I heard our friend Dianna get up around 6 as she had spent the night so she could make it to her graduation at 7:30, and yours truly rose around 8. I decided to relax in the bath as I prepared for the day. David had previously given me permission to use his razor as mine truly sucks and I decided this was the perfect time to achieve a 'close' shave. Well friends CLOSE is what I got. After removing four inches of skin from my shin bone I decided that maybe, just maybe, I could deal with a bit of stubble. The day then progressed in like fashion.



I arrived at the school late, rushed across two large parking lots and a busy street only to realize that I had left my hat and tassel in the car. I ran in my heels back to the car as the 'rain drops kept fallin on my head,' found said hat (it took a minute), and hustled my self back towards the school. By the time I made it in the building I was windblown and damp from the ensuing storm. I stopped in at Dianna's graduation which was still in the speech phase and decided to run to work and finished getting ready. By the time I made it across campus (why can't they install those moving walkways like they have in the airports?!?!) blood was beginning to drip down my leg as I had removed the wad'o'toilet paper when I left my car. I entered the bathroom and got to work around the same time David caught up with me to let me know he had been given the day off. He entered the sacred space of the girls bathroom, locked the door (there is a lock on that thing!?), and changed while I hurriedly put in my make up. We then trotted our little feet back to Dianna's graduation just in time to watch the students walk across the stage and receive their diploma covers. We cheered appropriately and left for the next event. I wont bore you with the rest of the day's details, some of which were quite wonderful, others not so much (such as when the neglected to read my degree......grrrrrrrrrrrrr).



As life evolved after that fateful day, I expected to be left with much time upon my hands......as you all know this is not the case in life. Work became very involving especially when my counterpart left for California for a week, the same week I started helping my Aunt itemize her and her spouses belongings in one truly nasty divorce. That week I put in around 40 hours at work and 40 hours typing up itemized lists. By the end of the week I was exhausted, hysterical, and hemorrhaging blood from a freak monthly flow/pregnancy scare. Yeah, in all it has been one heck of a month. Put on top of that five weddings (no funerals as of yet) and I am taking a MUCH needed break. Today I have lounged around the house, ran to the bank, gone to the book store, grabbed some InNOut, and checked out the blog scene. To all of my favorite blog authors.....Where is my amusement?!?!? Please update! As I screamed this thought at the computer I decided that I must not be a hypocrite and promptly began updating the world on the in's and out's of my life....as if you really care.

***Update. I am excitedly taking two weeks of vacation this summer......something unheard of for yours truly, and especially my spouse. We are so excited that we began buying souvenirs early....just kidding. We are going to Disneyland and I love pin trading. I decided to buy some pins on-line to trade so I did not spend tons on them in the park...besides its the trading that makes it so much fun. To do this I fell of the bandwagon and got on Ebay. Now I remember why I have been banned from that site for so long. in 18 hours I have bought 70 Disney Pins. Its time to take away my bidding ability!

Students and thoughts on life

Huh, I just realized that the purpose of this blog WAS to document our new family and the various things which happened. It has slowly transformed to become my rambling thoughts and complaints on life. Oh well, you are the one reading it so I don't know which one of us to feel more sorry for.

I am substitute teaching today. It is so funny to watch the antics of the students. Sometimes I wish that I had my own classroom and could teach the students. This is my current conundrum. I have been applying for jobs, but honestly I am not so sure that I want one. Sure, I have worked for eight years towards this ultimate goal, but there is so much hesitation. I would prefer to teach History, as this is my strongest area. The problem I have run across however, is that I was not prepared by my university to get a job as a history teacher. They never told me that there is another type of endorsement for History teachers, it is known as a Social Studies Composite. In this endorsement a teacher is allowed to teach multiple subjects; for example: History, World History (the two I am authorized to teach), Sociology, Psychology, Geography, Government, etc... It is the Social Studies Composite that all districts are hiring for, as they make the teacher much more marketable and movable. This means that I will most likely not receive a position as a history teacher, something which I kind of expected.

This is why I prepared myself to teach English. I will graduate next week with an endorsement in both History and English. I have currently applied for over a dozen teaching positions, and have only been contacted or interviewed for one. In all honesty, I'm scared. I do not feel prepared to teach English. The state core is SO VAGUE! I have complete freedom as long as the students learn the concepts. I guess this is a plus, but I am used to teaching History and the methodology that follows it.

Take all of these factors in account in the confusion of deciding my future as well as that of my family and I am in a conundrum. IF I am able to find a teaching job I can make a lot more money (I know thats an oxymoron), saving it for the future purchase of a house. The problem is I feel like I am moving forward or on and leaving my husband behind. He is younger than I, and just beginning his collegiate education. He has not learned all of the lessons of focus or determination to finish. To him it seems as if this is all a game. He is in no rush, he is still young. He has so many desires to learn. He loves learning and wants to vary the subjects he studies. The problem is this costs a lot of money and pushes graduation further and further away. This causes all manner of issues (mainly with me, as he is content to continue truck'n along) as I struggle in limbo, without a focus driving daily life.

How is it with you reader? Am I normal in the fact that I tend to have a driving force, be it education or work, which rules my days and most of my thoughts? I would say that now I am finished with school the next obvious step is to start our family, but I do not feel that would be fair for our future children. I want to be able to care for them in a responsible manner.

New Recipies

Just for fun I decided to try something new. I started using a website my husband and the guys he works with use. Its called Allrecipes.com. You can go and find recipes. Imagine that! The other day I decided I was going to make banana bread. You know what terrible feeling when you have to many bananas and they are going bad?! Well here is a little trick. Freeze'm. If you freeze them you can thaw them when you get enough and make bread.

Without remembering to look at my recipe book I looked up a recipe on Allrecipes.com for banana bread. I was very suprised was not just bread but when I found a recipe for Banana Nut Oatmeal Bread. Cool huh. I tried it and it is REALLY REALLY good!!!!! And SO easy to make. I'd better be careful or I might have another 'commandment' on my hands. Ya see, the first time I made bread, I made a recipe that my husband's mom uses. It is this weird wheat germ corn meal thing and it is absolutely divine! Well I tried to make bread for the first time in my life and David promptly told me that it was a commandment.

You see, every time we run out of bread I am to make more. I followed said rule for about two months, and then fell off the band wagon. Maybe it is time to get back on. See I love cooking. I come from a long line of really really good cookers. Yes, cookers is a real word. In this however, I have rarely been able to perform the actual cooking. I have observed and 'helped' many many times and feel like I know how to do it, but when it comes right down to it I get worried that I will mess things up.

So far I have not totally destroyed the things which I cook, although have had a few 'mishaps.' Such as the time that I tried to make spaghetti, forgot about the sauce and ended up making a reduction (that was a first!!!) imagine my surprise when I learned that reductions also condense the amount of water, thereby making the amount of salt in said item very prominent. The next mistake happened with my first foreign food adventure. David tried some, emphasis on SOME and commented that they are much too salty. Oh well, more for me! My meringue cake....well he tried it, and everyone else said they liked it, but no one finished it.

After all of these mistakes I was scared to try again, but apparently my Paella is great. He even ate the leftovers! This is a first!!!! He never eats leftovers. So here we go again. I make banana nut bread (with my secret ingredient) and time will only tell what the reaction will be.

Exhaustion

To see an apropriate cartoon for how I feel click HERE

Okay, I can do this! Been at work since oh....6:30 this morning, and I should get home around 9 or 10 tonight + that to not going to bed at a decent hour and I am totally completely ready to crash. BUT OH WAIT you say...yes that's right, homework is calling my name. So here I am on my break, my small amount of sanity for the day laying my homework out on the desk in front of me. As I open the browser I turn into auto-pilot. First things first, I must have background noise, some might call it white noise. So what shall it be? Pandora? A movie? Oh wait! That's right, there is a brand new oh so waited for Glee episode waiting for me. I can hear it now, calling my name. I log onto the site and wait on the edge of my seat for it to begin playing. As I do this, of course, as usual my concentration is shot. So here I sit twenty minutes later with no homework done. Oh, I did look at the sheet and even pulled up the site, I even typed up the header for my papers.

This seems to be an eternal loop. "It's okay," I tell myself. "Sixteen days!" That's right, I only have sixteen days until my life ends as I know it. Then its official. I will be a grown up. I graduate in sixteen days (not that I'm counting of course). Ever seen that episode of Gilmore Girls where Rory graduates and realizes that she doesn't know what to do next in her life? Well that is exactly how I feel. For now I have a job, one that allows me to see my husband most of the day. I can walk there and I'm friends with most of my coworkers. The only problem is that it is not a full time job. We need insurance, we need a cushion fund. One of these days we will have a family (two years..not that I'm counting on that front either...okay I admit it I am an obsessive counter. Odd as I failed math) and a house (hopefully sooner than later). As it is right now I am working at the college, substitute teaching, and cleaning a business building at night. As stated above life is exhausting. Hopefully in....oh say....seventeen or so days that will all change....or will it?

Easter Morn

Well this was our first. Our first Easter married (not as a couple-that would have been a year ago. One year ago when he so sweetly asked me how I would feel if a certain incident which occur ed in a freezer, were to happen again, but for real this time. Imagine the joy I felt as I quietly responded, "It would make me very happy!") we spent with my family. My grandmother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and slips every now and again. As tradition held firm we went to her house for Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt. This was David's first trip to meet the extended family. They were polite and kind, although he was a bit confused when my grandmother told him that we were having corn dogs with our hunt. For some reason he interpreted this as we were hiding the corn dogs instead of candy. I hate to disappoint you readers but he was wrong, the corn dogs were to go with our ham dinner.

This year I was determined to make the day special. I had grand plans of sneaking out with a girlfriend and buying an Easter basket for him. Sadly this was not to be. David went with us on our adventures and I completely forgot until around midnight. As I lay on his lap sleeping (my usual pose when watching movies) I woke to realize my error. I started whining about how horrible I was and how he deserved a good wife. He just laughed and drove me to the store. We promptly went our opposite directions and bought 'surprises' for each other. We even took over separate rooms to set things up. The next morning I realized what a gem of a husband I have. He had created a beautiful 'vase' basket with gorgeous roses, and some extraordinarily yummy chocolate. We spent our day relaxing as we listened to General Conference and ate our baskets of goodies.

Before you even ask the answer is NO

So tired. Only 31 days till graduation. I can do this! 31, 31,31...actually more like 30 as today is basically over and if you only count days in class thats 7 days!!! Somehow though I am completely exhausted. Suddenly its all a focus on the little things....such as: Finding a dress to wear, getting a hair cut, scheduling said hair cut, deciding who to invite/tell about graduation, doing homework!, realizing that I have two assignments that should have been finished a month ago....oops, working, keeping up the house, learning how to be a good wife, helping out the family, negotiating between two extended families, fulfilling church responsibilities, going to the temple, taking care of the cars, checking the mail................you catch my drift right???

Spring Break

Well another weekend has come and gone. As of today there are only 39 days until I graduate (8 years) from my 4 year degree!!!! Not that anyone is excited and counting, oh except for my mom and grandma of course. I spent Wed hanging around the house with a friend watchin movies and bein crafty. That night I attended a quilting class with Dianna and my mom. It was a ton of fun. I will post pictures as soon as I get a bit more accomplished. After the crafty rush we took Thursday to prepare for our camping trip in Moab. It was a blast! -of cold air that is. We froze until we were under the massive amount of blankets I brought with us. It was not until the second day that the sun finally decided to come out and join us.

It was beautiful. One of our favorite shots from the day is shown above. I think I have decided that the Double Arch is my favorite. Don't know why but I had never seen it before this trip, and I have been there a couple times before. Now you will notice a dark spot about one inch up in the center. That is the fateful spot on which I slipped, fell (as usual very gracefully), dropped my camera and completed its demise. I suppose this means that once my tax returns get here I get a NEW CAMERA!!! Bring on the shopping!




After recovering from the fall we made our way to the Fiery Furnace shown above. It is an insane conglomeration of fin canyons in which you climb, scramble, or boulder, which ever verb you feel like using. We had a blast and honestly I was extremely sad to leave it. In all honesty I wish we could have stayed and gone longer we did not go in very far. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys scramble over the rocks and then look back as the girls attempted to keep up with them.

Saturdays oy vey

Once again it is that wonderful time of year called the weekend. The time I dream of all week and pray for constantly. And yet, I am now realizing why, every sunday/monday, when someone asks me how my weekend was, I stumble in thought for a moment before I can answer in a bewildered sort of way..."fine/good...I think."

Why is this my response you may say? Well, let me tell you. I woke today around three a.m. oh yippee!!! Was my original thought "What could be better than achieving your complete night sleep (as we went to bed around nine) and waking in the middle of the night?" The answer: Nothing.

As I went back to sleep I realized that my hubby/bedpartner has become a complete snugglebug. That or he has secret designs on my side of the bed. Eventually falling back asleep I wake to his alarm three and a half hours later. Oh joy, its now 6:30 on a saturday morning! As he somehow sneaks out of bed and out of the room without my conscious knowledge of this act I drift back to sleep, only to be wakened once again as he hugs and kisses and says something...I think, and leaves. Back to lowered eyelid bliss I return.

Three hours or something like that later I wake again and decide that okay, okay, fourth time is a charm I really should get up. I ramble to the kitchen, eat some left over salty samosas (don't even get me started on my lack of cooking ability, have I mentioned recently that I am married to a chef...thats right a chef, and one who cooks pretty well, at least thats what he and other people say. jk) and decide to take a bath. Two hours, 2 bathtub amounts of water, and one Percy Jackson book later I emerge in my pruned glory to a sweat text from said hubby. We carry on one of our infamous text conversations (very serious stuff) as I decide that I am going to suprise him and be a good wife! I clean our bedroom, sort the laundry, start a load, and sit down to the laptop (you see, in the middle of all of this great idea forming stuff he informed me that he wont be home until 5-6 which really translates to 6-7) now I have all the time in the world.

After all of that I now sit here trying to distract myself by using the 'next blog' button and reading random peoples blogs, while looking at my disaster of a kitchen and regretting the lunch of left over samosas. Okay thats it...I tell myself. Finish the blog entry, eat a cookie, change the laundry, and be the superwife I know I can be! Maybe I may even make cookies...(and leave a couple for him!). Wish me the best, and cross your fingers I do not return in five minutes to figure out how to make my blog cute like all y'all's, and don't even remind me about the stupid ticker gadget!!!URG!

Observations and funny comments....

It is here. Well almost. As of April 30th I will graduate and 'end' my college career. Come on you really didn't fall for that did you? Why would I stop attending classes, I am an education person, I will be learning for the rest of my life. And as of yet, as I have no 'real job' as my boss puts it, I receive one free class per semester. I say take it!!!



What else....hmmm. Well on the baby front, as I seem to have been updating you for a bit, we are at a standstill. We discussed the various sides of the debate and decided that logically we need to wait until David is of school. One of my biggest fears is him not finishing. The horrible realization that hit after this conversation though was that we would have to wait for over three years. Three years people, I will be thirty by the time I have a child. So not cool. After I had my mental break down and sobbed myself to sleep, something which my poor husband dealt with remarkably well, I realized that the whole hangover feeling was not for me and I need to get over this. Then it happened. Yesterday while shopping for fabric with my mom and friend, Dianna, I found a book of nursery ideas. I loved it, and come on why not start making baby stuff now and putting it away, kinda like a trousseau kinda thing. No harm in that right....right! All this generally serves to do is make me obsess about having a baby. As I debated this fact with my mom, apparently she agreed with the greedy side of me and she ran back to the store to buy that book. As I told this story to a friend at work she told me, "you know Kayde, it would just be better if you had the baby." I disagreed for the following reason:



It's like Christmas. Remember that feeling of excitement and joy leading up to the day? It is wonderful and exciting and you never want it to stop, but at the same time you want it here. It is the same concept. If I have a baby its Christmas day. Then its all over, and its time to clean up the mess and get back to real life.



Well I thought that fit the bill wonderfully, at least until I talked to David last night. We decided to wait until at least next fall if not next spring and then discuss the dilemma from there. Now the game is to see if I can actually hold out.......good luck!

Contentment

Wow, for once we have had a 'normal' couple of days. What I mean by this is that I have been able to spend time with my hubby that does not require running around crashing (although this happened as well) or checking stuff off of my long list of 'to-do's.' Last night we wandered through R.C. Willey and discussed the possibility of buying a larger television, looked at random furniture, and once we came home picked up the office together and each worked on our random projects as we just sepent time in each others company.

Now I know in comparrison to my recent blogs it sounds like I have begun to loose my mind. This is not the case. I have finally understood that it is not yet our time. Meaning: While I desperately want to become financially secure and start a family, like all of my friends and family are doing, I need to realize that they have all been married for a few (or at least a couple) years. As such, they have done their time, lived through the uncertainty and stressful few years where you have to work extra hard to meld two lives together and become seccure in the world. We are not the only one's who feel this way. It is now our turn to go through the hard times and learn to appreciate what we have before moving forward.

Great thought no? Well I thought so, and have been trying extra hard to convince myself of this fact. Two weeks later, I think it finally sank in! Well I gotta run, gonna be a good wife and take him to class so I can steal his car and go shopping!

Things you do around the house before having children

........somehow my brain did not immediately pull up the correct answer, Childproofing. Game days are always a blast. I decided to write down a few of our favorite random games that we play with the friends.

*Munchkins-very fun crazy play on words game.

*Last Word-shout out the random words that pop into your head, only they have to match the theme and the letter. No, Hilary, Kanye West does not apply.

*Cranium-everything crazy and fun mashed into one game. Be sure to be out going or you will get no where.

*Sorry Card Revenge- Uno meets a talking pawn. Take two cards................and then take SEVEN more!!!!

*Monarch-Random history game concerning the monarchs of Britain.

*Catchphrase-always hysterical (notice the title of the post, it involved root beer being sprayed in a fine mist all over my body as well as the living room)

*Bananagram-Scrabble with a twist.

*Risk-well duh!

*Colosseum- Can't even begin to describe this one but it is awesome and takes brains.

The list could literally go on and on, always looking for new ones please let me know if there is a critical one missing from my list.

*and a new one today. Word on the Street. It is so funny! Quote of the day: Poop! If we move the poop we get the P!

If No News is Good News.....We Definately Have News...

Along with last weeks GREAT news concerning the job front....beep beep beep beep beep...Jordan School District to Lay, off 500 Employees: 250 Teachers, 250 Administrators. Wow, if picking the hardest subject was not making it hard enough, now I have an extra 250 experienced (in the best school district in the state mind you) teachers, plus all of those administrators who are also teachers, to compete against. Life just keeps getting better and better.

To top all of this off, I am back from a wonderful WARM vacation in St. George, ready to get back to the grindstone...yippeeeee.

No news is good news....or is it?

Well how to start. If I remember right I updated everyone on the whole job situation and how David is picking up hours with the custodial crew at night as their supervisor. Well the other day I was thinking about how much they hate it when we go overtime and realized that three weeks in a row he has gone over. This can not bode well. So we talked to his boss and it was decided that they would just bank the extra hours, giving them to him on weeks that he needs the hours but they don't need him. This seemed all well and good...a few days past and I began thinking about another problem (you know me...I have to find all of the bad so when its good I get extremely happy-I am the quintessential pessimistic-optimistic) we are only allowed to work 1500 hours per fiscal year. Out of curiosity I pulled up David's work history and started crunching numbers.


Drumroll Please..........


That is right people, if my wonderful work-a-holic-bring-home-the-bacon-to-support-my-wife-husband keeps working the hours he is now he will run out of hours as of May 13th, 2010. If not a bit sooner. Oh joy. Oh Bliss.....urg.

I quickly brought this to his and his supervisors attention, and honestly, I don't think they believed me. They quickly questioned the campus employment services people to find out that, yes, once again Kayde was correct! Shane the supervisor was not pleased. He does not want to loose David, the two of them are really starting to get along great and they have a nice groove going. David is freaking out as he loves his job and does not want to leave it (he just got Chef coats with his name on it for hecks sake) and he is desperate to make sure that he provides for me...male ego or something. I gotta admit I'm glad he feels this way. I have watched other marriages where the men are content to sit back and let her bring home the bacon, and in all honesty those men make me sick. Now call it a double standard, but I also feel that the women should not sit idly by and do nothing. As we have no children I see no reason that I can not work a bit and assist in building up a nest egg and helping our family progress until the time comes that we do have children. Another point in this argument is the fact that I know David will not be able to work as much as needed when he is attending school. He NEEDS to finish his schooling for himself and for us as it not only educates him and allows him to build upon prior learning, but it will also open doors when it comes to employment in the future.

There is the long and well the long of it, there really is no short. When presenting the problem before our boss yesterday we were basically told that David will have to cut his hours (almost in half) so he can make it until July. After that point he will only be able to work thirty hours per week at most. David's argument was to just give him the full time status, benefits, and leave the pay as is, the problem with this is we have to get approval from the Vice-President before anything can happen and that is neigh on impossible, and will take quite a while. So as we shuffle along...hoping to get ahead, we once again find that one step forward is indeed three steps back, and we have our answer, we will definitely be waiting a year or so before actually thinking about getting pregnant. Oh joy.

Blahhness

January is marching on with the usual insanity. We have been juggling school and work, mostly work, and attempting to spend sometime together. As a result of said schedule I have accomplished little to no work in the form of house work or crafts. I need to finish a friend's quilt for her wedding...saturday...oops. I was hoping to have it tied and finished, make several aprons for said wedding, and organize the disaster of my stash. Last night I took a much needed break, received a pedicure (ah bliss!), and came home to my tornado stricken house and began work. Much to my surprise a neighbor stopped by to drop something off and commented on how clean the house was, little did he know that I had started with that room and if he were to venture in further the dust bunnies would attack.

On the baby front we are watching as all of our married friends are enlarging their families and being blessed by their oh so adorable children. We on the other hand will not be following suit for sometime. Hopefully sooner than later. We know we want at least four children if possible, its just the thought of giving birth that worries me...there are needles involved!!! Currently we have a short list of girls names (mainly ones I want) and an attempt at boys that we like.

David does not know this but I have been looking at houses. I know the thought of us buying one is ludicrous but It would be so nice to own our own home which we could decorate as we please and plant our roots, while building collateral towards a permanent home in the future. As it is we are lucky to meet all of our bills each month. We were doing okay this month, would be much better if we would get better at our spending habits. I need to start using our financial folder and keeping us to our budget if we are ever going to get anywhere in life. I know we need to build up our savings for a home, furniture, decorations, and mainly CHILDREN and in all honesty I am attempting to lead us in this direction. Now if we could both control ourselves maybe we could get somewhere with this plan.

New Beginnings

As posted previously David did not receive his promotion. His new boss has started work this week. It is always strange when one trains ones own boss isn't it. From what I can tell Shane is going to be a great addition to our facility and David seems to get along with him greatly. On the other had it is I who seems to be having problems at work of late. One of my assistants was moved to another area and seems to think of himself as the new manager. He resents any assistance I try to give, and any management that comes from me as I am 'micro-managing' him. He has some brilliant ideas as how to help the area progress, but hesitates to listen when I step forward as the leader. We had it out yesterday and well, it was not pretty. David observed part of the conversation, and protective as always tried to muscle his way in. When I talked to him later he was still quite annoyed and wanted to inform said person that they were never to talk to me that way again. It does warm the heart to hear someone, especially a husband, talk like that but at the same time causes some stress as to the repercussions if he were to actually follow through with his threats. Hopefully the next few days, weeks, and months are better.

In a way I understand what he is trying to do. He has a wife and six children to care for, and as provider this is his main priority. He is looking desperately, not unlike us, for a promotion and raise. On that matter I know exactly how he feels. David was promised more hours, and our bosses solution to this is to raise him to the position of Supervisor over the custodial crew. Four nights per week (and sometimes three) David will over see the crew to pick up additional hours. He is also receiving a raise which might possibly be around seventy to eighty cents. The number part is still under supposed debate, I guess we will see when and IF it ever comes about.