new (temporary) job

I've been sending out resumes for a bank job, but with no success. My hubby kept telling me that he might have me work for he and his dad at the auto repair shop. And he kept telling me that it would only be temporary. He repeated it...a lot.

So on December 18 I started working as secretary at Dave's Auto Repair. I work part-time, so I can't complain about the hours. And I get to have lunch with my hubby just about every day. People don't think it'll last, with a husband and wife working together. But we don't see each other every moment of the day; he's in the shop and I'm in the office. And he has limited me to ONE kiss per day. Otherwise, any more than that is not professional. Can you hear the sarcasm?! He said that he'd write an employee handbook for me that had that in it too. Funny, funny man I married.

It's going well so far. I've only been perturbed with him a couple times. Such as when he acts so dang superior towards me. Like my grampa says, "There are two things you can do about it. Stay mad or get over it." Pearls of wisdom from Grampa Smith. :)

I can't say that I'm learning a lot about auto repair, but I'm learning QuickBooks. And furthering my knowledge of Excel. Upsides to working for my hubby and father-in-law can be found! And another bonus: we get to ride to work together on Fridays. Which means we get to stop at the wonderful coffee mill in town. YUM!

elusive sleep

So here it is, 1230 in the morning. I have been having trouble sleeping for about a week now. Can't shut my mind off long enough to relax. Grr.

Yet my husband can fall asleep soon after his head hits the pillow. I'm so jealous! He can sometimes snore to beat the band, or wakes me with his chattering, but I find it very relaxing to listen to his even breathing. Sometimes it helps me relax. Not much was working tonight, though.

I had a great time this afternoon; had lunch with some girlfriends. All three are mothers; two had babies this summer, one had her youngest in March (she has 3 other children). I loved holding the babies; but it definitely does not give me baby fever. Yet. :) Not at least for another year.

First the questions was: When are you getting married? Now it is: When are you starting a family? Besides family and good friends, it's nobody's business! Shortly after I was engaged someone asked me what I would do if I had twins. Now, this is someone who was a customer at the bank I worked at, not someone I knew at all. Why do people feel they have the right to ask something like that?!

I think I'm going to go back to bed and snuggle up to my husband.

Happiness vs. Frustration

Things that make me happy today:
1. FedEx delivered the rest of 1 leaning bookcase this morning.
2. I have Chocolate Raspberry coffee creamer.
3. I found new quotes to add to my collection.
4. Dan installed a retractable clothesline in the laundry room and I get to try it out today!

Things that frustrate me today:
1. I still can't get the hang of how to do a seed stitch.
2. Dishes need to be done (yes, some I do hand-wash instead of using the dishwasher).
3. I need to dust ceiling fans. (I feel sneezes coming on already.)
4. The gloomy weather.

I have a goal too. I am really going to try to post to this blog more often than once every few months!!! I figured I should give a go again. I know my life is not that exciting, but hey...my husband thinks I'm wonderful. :)

teeth

Teeth. I just had 6 pulled out last Thursday. Well, technically it was four and two extra (one I knew about, the other was a surprise). One was pulled out and had two pop out after it. The two little ones are freakish looking (they handed 'em to my mom while I was in recovery). Looks like something you'd see on X-Files. Andrew said maybe it was my twin that never developed. Now there's somebody that's seen too many X-Files shows.
The pain is not so horrible now. I haven't taken one pain killer today. Although I still have no appetite (maybe this will be some weirdo diet thing for me), I am sleeping better now. I am still subsisting on Jell-O and pudding cups, along with some applesauce, and the favorite: mashed potatoes. I overdid it yesterday with food: trying to eat stuff I shouldn't have and just using my front teeth made my mouth ache. Today I tackled pancakes! Whoohoo! Something new and not out of a cup. Although I did put applesauce from a cup on top of them...
I don't really miss the food I cannot have, which I'm sure is a blessing. It isn't appealing to me. And I don't have much of an appetite at all right now. Three pancakes with applesauce on top filled me up for breakfast and dinner. I'll probably take the leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow.
Which brings me to a new point. I'm somewhat glad I'm in training seminars the next two days so that I don't have to talk too much or think too much. I hope they have handouts! I stayed home from work today to take it easy and prepare myself for the rest of the week. My jaw still gets sore from talking too much (so amazingly enough I'm keeping fairly quiet these days...), and my job involves talking. A lot. So the next two days I'll just have to listen unless I have questions.
*Sigh.* I am looking forward to eating cereal again. I still have almost half a box of Marshmellow Froot Loops. And coffee! I do miss my coffee. I know that I shall miss it very much these next few days at work. I'll have to find another caffiene (spell check isn't working and I'm sure that's spelled wrong) source. Maybe energy drinks would work...

monster

My sis-in-law has created a MONSTER. On Sunday night, she taught me how to knit. I can't get enough of it! I love it!!! It's so relaxing. One more thing to add to my list of hobbies. :-) I have enough (photography, scrapbooking, reading, painting, etc.), so what's one more? heehee. I was gone for 5 hours yesterday, just looking for a book or pattern that interested me, tools, and yarn. I'm still using my cheap practice yarn to perfect my technique (the purl stich is still coming along). I spent good money on some nice yarn to make myself a purse. *I need another purse like I need another hole in my head.* But I figure that in the long run I'm actually saving myself $$$money$$$. At least I can tell myself that to justify my purchases. :)

I am doing a little good with saving money. I have yet to touch my tax return money that is sitting in a savings account. Of course, I am thinking I may need to put it towards a new car. I want a VW Beetle!!! Silver, black, navy blue...My pink John Deere license plate would go well with any of those colors. Or maybe a bright green. I've got Dan looking around for me as he tries to sell my Alero for me. I get to drive his winter-beater Escort for now. It is great that I have it to borrow, but man: it is a GIGANTIC step down from my Alero. No auto headlights, cd player, keyless entry...I've gotten spoiled by that car! Speaking of which, if anyone who reads this is in the market for a new car...

I need to be better about posting to this blog. Of course, it might help if I was online more than once a week or once every 2 weeks. Happy week to all and God bless.

friday

Ahhh...it's finally Friday! A chance to relax, maybe sleep in a little bit tomorrow. I'm just glad the week is finally over. It's been a little crazy at work and there's been stuff going on that is just driving me nuts!!! One co-worker in particular. I love my job; I love what I do. Just somedays are harder than others to get along with a certain person.
I feel like purple text today. Changing from blue.
Sometimes I really struggle with why things happen to certain people. I know that God has a plan, it's just not always easy to rest in that fact/knowledge. I want to know the impossible: WHY? I understand that it's not possible for me to have an answer, yet I want one. Sometimes desperately! And yet God (in his infinite wisdom, of course) doesn't give out those kind of answers. Maybe it's supposed to teach us patience, but it seems that it's really teaching me to trust. Which is hard sometimes. No matter that God has a pretty good track record on being right, I just find it so difficult to trust. Well, let me correct that. I MAKE it difficult to trust. I push God to arm's length and say, "Uh, God, I don't think you've got this one. I just don't think this is right." Well duh. My not trusting is what's not right. It's a perpetual cycle for me.
So Dan will be coming to either Damascus Road tomorrow night or to church on Sunday morning. Amy won't know what to do with him coming to church 3 weeks in a row. She might have a coniption (or however that's spelled. I don't always do spell check. And I think I turned it off somehow on this site.) I know that he believes in God, I just think he doesn't quite know what to do with his belief. I'm just thrilled to see him coming more often. And I know he's interested and likes the sermons. If I didn't believe that he'd eventually make an eternal decision, I wouldn't be with him.
Wow. I'm spilling out too much of my heart. Too vulnerable.

society/culture/America

As I was reading my friend Mike's blog (Prowling Purple Pandas), it made me wonder: Do I care enough about culture/society/America? Mike's blog really makes me think. Do I support the war? In a way yes, in other ways, no. Yes, because our troops (not all, I'm sure) believe in what they are fighting for and why they are over there in the first place. No, because why does America always step in to take care of other countries? It's like America is the big brother that wants to take care of everyone and make sure it's all okay before walking away. Why is that? When 9/11 happened, what country came to our aid? Hurricane Katrina: Again, who came to help us? We are so quick to help out everybody else, but no country ever offers to help us. It makes me wonder why our country is always jumping to other places in the world to help out.
Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about or truly understand why America is always "helping" other countries. Maybe I don't get involved in politics because talking about them gives me a headache.
I do know that I care about where our society is headed. It seems to be going to the materialistic extreme, a self-centered point of view. "How will this benefit me?" seems to be a motivator for some people. I must admit that I like the little spot of Michigan where I live where life moves at a slower pace and people still retain their good ol' fashioned values. Where people still lend a helping hand to neighbors and others in need. Where I want my children to be raised. It's scary what is happening in today's world. The violence, the hate, the overall lack of respect for our fellow human beings.
The consolation that I have comes from my faith in God. He knows the future and what will come of all this. That is my refuge.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
Enough said.