what's up, pussycat?

Andrew just told me that I need to update our blog because he doesn't know what's going on in our life. Nice.

I will admit that the firstborn is not getting as much attention as before, but it's really because of two reasons:

1. The fun decorating/cooking stuff is elsewhere.
2. We are BORING. Not really, but kind of.

I'm trying to think about the exciting things that have happened in our life over the last few weeks but I really can't think of anything. At least not what you would consider interesting enough to keep reading. Here's how we spend our week days: get up, work, have dinner, read/DVR/email/blogs. Then it's 10pm and we're pooped. On the weekend, we hit the Farmers Market, pop into a few thrift stores and keep ourselves busy with projects around the house and yard. We try to get downtown if the weather is nice, so I'm looking forward to a cool-down so we can do that more often. And we're definitely eating our way through this town. Love that part :)

Really, we're just living our life, doing our thing (thang, if you will). Andrew starts Power School on Monday, which is a little scary since it's supposed to be intense. He said today that the average student puts in 20 hours week, on top of the 7am-4pm schedule. Goodbye, husband. It's been fun.

That's it. Nothing fabulous. Thanks for sticking around :)

grace

-noun

unmerited divine assistance

I get to keep my job. After spending two weeks feeling confused/scared/excited/eeeeeks!! about my job situation and how it would ultimately affect our little family, I had gotten to the point where I was mostly apprehensive. And a little hopeful that maybe things didn't have to end. We were prepared to make it work, but thought this might be worth fighting for. So I made the decision to have a scary conversation with the head of my department. And he subsequently decided that my current position was the best one for me and them, and I didn't have to give it up.

Hal.le.lu.jah.

I didn't realize how thankful I am for this job until it was almost gone. Or how much I really do enjoy what I do, even on the yuckiest of days. And how my colleagues bring joy to my quiet dining room where I type away until we can finish building the desk for our office. And when I finally came to that realization, it was all given back to me.

I say it all the time and I'm still amazed on a regular (daily) basis: we are so blessed.

our neurotic puppy

That's one of my favorite Rudy pictures, taken when we were snowed in this past winter. He is cra-zy. We knew that he had a few little quirks, but recently he's gone a little off the deep end. And it's hilarious. Two of his biggest issues involve his eating habits:

• His eating area must be completely clean before consuming a meal. If there is any kibble around the bowl, he cleans it up immediately. If there's a piece he can't reach, he does his Lassie routine until we move it for him.
• He won't eat if there is a divot in his food. Sometimes his snout will make a little crater in his food and he goes into meltdown mode, until we shake it out so it's level again.
• He doesn't like being able to see the bottom of the bowl. Scares him a bit. So we have to always keep it full, just in case.

He also doesn't like it if Andrew and I aren't seated in the same room. He'll bark/whine/growl at one of us until he has our attention and can lead us to the other. And if anything makes the slightest noise or movement in his presence, he's scared for life. The trash bag shifted when he was walking by and he was done for.

Is it possible for dogs to have OCD? Yesterday he developed a tic. I'm not even kidding.

Somebody pass the Prozac.

they're the people that you meet, when you're walking down the street

Hands down, all-time favorite Sesame Street-ism, in case you were wondering.

If you know us, you know that we had a rock solid community of believers to lean on when we were in college. I mean, really...it was a community.

I think that was the hardest thing about graduating. It wasn't moving or getting married or getting a job or having to live with a boy (although that took some adjusting). It was leaving that family and not having another to jump into.

When we settled, we looked for a church to call home. We bounced around to several in the area and ultimately landed on the one we attended when we were in college. The teaching was wonderful, but we just had a difficult time getting plugged in. It was too hard. So we took a break from church to reevaluate what we were looking for. But we also wanted to meditate on what we believed apart from a (not the) church. We wanted to believe, not because we were being forced to, but because the Gospel rings more true when you FEEL that it's true. And sometimes you need to take a deep breath and start over to get to that point. You hear me?

So when we moved here, we were ready to hit the ground running, looking for a church community. We were prepared to try several, have the "what did you think?" conversation 20x over Sunday lunch and find something a few months down the road. Only God, meeting our needs before we could even define them, led us straight to the right place.

We visited the church once and knew we didn't want to go anywhere else. It feels more like the church Jesus talks about than any other church I've been to. It's the community we've been trying to find for the last two years. And we are SO thrilled to have found it.

So all you moms and grandmas out there, wondering if we're in church yet, the answer is yes. Rest easy :)

silver lining #533

Yesterday, I left the house during lunch to run some errands and I realized that it was the first time I'd left the house since Sunday. That's one, two, three FOUR days. Four days, people. This is not good. SO, if there is good to be found in this upcoming task of trying to find new employment, it's that I will actually get out of the house and feel the air (at 96% humidity, no less) and perhaps will escape developing a vitamin D deficiency, for lack of any sunshine. That's good right?

Right.

Also, I'll get to be around people again. These are the people I see each week: Andrew (not complaining), Rudy, Mrs. Clure (the nice lady next door) and occasionally, the mailman. If I time it just right. So maybe, I'll be socialized again as well. That's also a plus.

Just doing what I can to stay positive, folks.

ch-ch-changes

Name that song and I'll give you a yankee nickel.

How's this for an announcement: I'm quitting my job.

!!!!!!

I gave my notice earlier this week, after a few changes that left me feeling like I can't give 100% while working remotely. That was a HARD decision, but at the end of the day, I know what my life would be like if I felt like the work I was putting out wasn't stellar. I opted out of the standard two weeks and told them that I'd stay through the end of the month, while the replacement gets trained and up to speed.

I have MANY mixed emotions about this. The most frequent emotion that tends to pop up is a teeny bit of anxiety: what about those dolla dolla billz? We can get by on Andrew's salary, but neither one of us want to "get by." The plan is to find something - anything - that will give us a supplement to put straight into savings. Honestly, I'll work at Chick-fil-a. I DON'T CARE. I just want something to keep me busy, where I can be around people. And that gives me a paycheck at the end of the month. I'm pretty easy to please in that respect.

The other (and most prominent) emotion is excitement. Fear of the unknown, at least in the last year, has slowly been turning into kind of a thrill. I get to do something new, shake things up a bit. I have no idea what'll be, but I'm excited to figure that out.

I've said a bagillion times that the Lord has ONLY been faithful to us. For a while, I thought that the Lord was blessing us with fortunate circumstances. Really, He's blessing us with a calm and peaceful heart to navigate those unfortunate circumstances. I kind of like that better.

I've been looking and I trust that I'll find something just in time. In the meantime, I will be thankful, thankful, thankful for His provision, His guidance and His track record of taking care of us in times like these.

Soooo...anybody looking to hire an unemployed girl? :)

spicing things up a bit

Happy Sunday!

Andrew and I are on a roll - we've been having the world's most productive weekends this month. I love it. This time around, we conquered the farmers market, every Goodwill within a 10-mile radius (for real), the grocery store, Habitat Restore AND we've managed to clean the house, cut the grass, and refinish like four pieces of furniture. I told you we were on a roll. Gotta make the most of it all before the Navy owns him again. Amen?

Here I sit, with sore shoulders and the painter's claw (see above) trying REALLY hard not to fall asleep at 8:39pm. Today, the mood struck me to do some baking so I'm about to cozy up with some chocolate chip cookies and tell you a story. Ready? Ok.

I have developed a love for decorating with thrift store finds. For cooking HEALTHY food on the cheap. For making my own cleaning supplies (Thanks, Mir!). For sewing. For using fabric and NOT sewing. For gardening. For taking pictures. For living life efficiently and saving a few bucks. I mentioned earlier this week that my mission is to save as much as possible. You see, we've done a total budget overhaul. Not because we're in any kind of financial turmoil, but because we think it's smart to know how we're spending our money and to do more to spend less. Or at least keep ourselves from spending unnecessarily. And we better start now so we can send ALL our babies to college and not just our favorites :)

All that to say, I've enjoyed these things so much that I want to talk more about it! Every time I find something at the thrift store and find its inner beauty, or find a way to only spend a couple of dollars on dinner, the folks I tell want to know more. So instead of boring you other folks (hey, Dad!) that have no interest in my refinished sofa table, I decided to keep it separate. Enter Thrifty, Nifty & Wise. My own little girly blog where I can talk about my most favorite girly, home-related things. And I'll still keep this blog up for all you other peeps. Business in the front, party in the back, if you will.

So that's my latest project! I hope you like it :)