Um, do you hear something?

After our Sunday nap yesterday we were sitting in the living room when all of a sudden, it sounded like a heavenly host had landed on our roof. We went outside and found a large, meaty chicken bone on our roof, and many large birds squawking in the field across the street.


And, by way of catch-up, here are the lovely cloverleaf rolls I made last week. The leftovers are in the freezer calling my name.



And did I tell you we made a garden? We dug out a section of grass, put down two halves of a pallet, and filled in the space inside with rocks. Then we planted a few pots with seeds-- cucumbers, peppers, broccoli, onions, and carrots. So far the cucumbers are the winners! Here they are after only four days!

Here's Brad giving the rocks a final touch.



News from the job front: I'm still unemployed and have no prospects. I'm about to go out of my mind with frustration today. We got a great connection from a couple we met at our new church-- we're now attending the Vineyard here and are enjoying getting to know the people there. We helped out with VBS last week and got to know quite a few people! That's good news. So one of the couples has been super encouraging and have been going out of their way to try to connect us with anyone and everyone who might be able to give me a job. They both teach at a local Christian school, and after talking with them I began to remember how much I enjoyed being part of the community when I taught at the Christian school in Chicago. So I decided to apply. I spent most of today filling out the epic-long application, writing my philosophy of Christian education , etc., gathering letters of reference, copies of transcripts, yadda yadda. I finally got everything together around 1:30, took a shower, had a bite to eat, and got to the school around 2:45. I met the head of school and gave him my application and told him I knew so-and-so, and he told me that there were no openings, but that he'd keep my application on file.

Grr! I'm just bewildered.

In other news, we spent much of Friday and Saturday morning doing some landscaping. One of the Bressler family's friends has an investment house down here and it's nearly finished. The owner asked Brad to do some landscaping for him so we planted fourteen ruellia bushes (like ours, with purple flowers) and one pygmy date palm. It was hot-hot-hot, but afterward we had that good tired ache that comes with hard work.

Yesterday we went to church and then met the family for lunch at a steakhouse. Without fail, family gatherings are always exciting. Except this time, it wasn't happy exciting. Poor baby Kaya has a nasty cold and kept choking, scaring us all. Poor baby, she felt so miserable, but was still smiley and sweet! And the night before, on Saturday, we stopped by for a quick visit and she took her first steps toward me! That was a super fun moment.

Not much planned for this week... dinner on Wednesday with Jeff and Shelley and the kids, as we always stop by "just for a second" and never feel like we're caught up. I invited them over before I realized that Wednesday is our third anniversary, so we'll go out to celebrate on Thursday. Three years of wedded bliss... I am lucky beyond lucky.

Oh- one other fun thing we've been doing. We've been netflix-ing Northern Exposure! Remember that old show about the sleepy Alaskan town? We're 3/4 through the first season and are loving it. The dvds come with only two episodes each, so it's a little slow-going but keeps it rationed out. On the off nights that we don't have a dvd to watch we've been walking or going for a bike ride in the neighborhood and watching our neighborhood owls. There are at least three burrows of owls in the vacant lot across the street and down a few houses. We've seen up to seven owls at a time! Two of them are babies and while they aren't really smaller, they're a little fluffier and more skittish, bobbing their heads and cheeping at us a lot more than the adults do. Too cute.

Feeling domestic

I've been itching to bake lately. I made a batch of cloverleaf rolls last weekend which were delicious with soup and amazing with melted garlic butter on lasagna night. This weekend I wanted to make a variation of the rolls in which less flour is added and the dough, now batter-like, is scooped into muffin cups. I was hoping they'd turn out like Bob Evans' dinner rolls, which are 80% air and 20% light and fluffy carbohydrate goodness. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out light and fluffy so I need to do a bit of research about bread and yeast. They did turn out ok, though, tasty and terribly cute as I made them in the Individual Crumb Cake Pan I love so much. Little squares of heaven. With all the carbs cravings I've been giving into, I'm less than shocked that at weigh-in this morning I was up 0.2 pounds. Gah.

Wayyyy overdue, but here they are!

Over Spring Break Sandi's family came to Captiva for a vacation. Sandi has known me since I was a little thing-- in fact, her youngest daughter taught me to color in the lines! I spent many an afternoon at their house... to the point that I came home one day and told my family that I was taking on their last name! Which happened to be the same day that my dad's mother was visiting from Boston. The grandmother who gave me the Horgan name. She wasn't terribly impressed, as the story goes.

Anyway, Sandi is a kindred spirit with my mom and is like a second mother to me. So it is always terribly fun to visit with her family and her. It just so happened to be a significant birthday for Sandi as well, but I don't think I'll mention which one. We all had a lovely party with entertainment by none other than God (the sunset over the Gulf), followed by cake from The Bubble Room.

Here's the whole group, minus Brad and me:

Watching as it sets, slowly, slowly:


Here is the gorgeous and delicious cake. Sandi's in the middle and is surrounded by her grandkids, one daughter and husband:


Sandi and Mom, sisters from two mothers:

Sandi's visiting Mom this weekend and they're painting the town red. Or at least doing a lot of sightseeing and architectural tours. I am a wee bit jealous.

Happy Birthday, Sandi! And thanks for teaching Mom how to use a drill. And how to hang curtains.

It's raining jobs!

Good news! Brad was offered the position at the university today! We're thrilled and excited and relieved and praising God for this good news. He starts the day after we return from Chicago, so we have a few more weeks together at home. It's going to be a great fit for him, we think. Woo hoo!

I also got good news from a dear friend who has been facing the end of a reallllly long tenure at a great job. Her boss has accepted a promotion at a different location, leaving her unemployed. She knew he was pursuing this promotion for a few years now, and lately it had been looking good for him but it has been scary and sad to consider the change and uncertainty. However, the boss's new boss asked today what my friend was going to do, and that he might have a position for her! At a pay raise! And it has benefits, like health insurance! It's not a sure thing yet, but just a really awesome possibility.

And my friend Kate from Purdue just announced that she's accepted an offer! To teach English! In HONG KONG! In August! Thrilling. Exciting.

(Um, God? Am I on the list of people-to-receive-jobs? Just wondering.)

With Brad's job come six free credit hours per semester... which has me thinking seriously about my future and educational possibilities. Should I go for a masters in school counseling? Masters in regular counseling? Get my engineering degree? Consider something entirely different? I'm all over the place today. Oh- I also got an email from a recruiter for an actuary position, which I proceeded to research. So that's in the mix as well. My calculus is rusty and I had a horrible experience in statistics in college, but... maybe? I mean, from what I can see it's mathy, and has leadership, communication, etc., components... So I'm just all over the place, praying for guidance... and celebrating with my husband!

Home Makeover, Office Edition

Like I told you before, we decided to do a bit of rearranging in the office. We removed the work computer (currently on its way to Ralph and Chris's house) and big white corner desk (currently in pieces in our garage) and cleaned out and pitched and organized. We have gone through our entire file cabinet, shredded three garbage bags full of old papers, and rearranged the files to make sense. We also moved the silver table into the master bedroom to be my dressing table, which fits the scale of the room much better than my dinky dressing table did. We put the dressing table in the guest room which looks much better.

So here is the office during the process. I forgot to take before pics-- you can look at the house blog for those. At this point we had moved the brown desk from the left wall to the right wall, so it's about half way through the process.

And... AFTER! We put the bed together, sturdied it up with some extra 1 by 4's, and added a $17 air mattress from Walmart. We moved the file cabinet over to the right far corner, making that area a real office area. The room looks just charming and we love it!

I got the idea to make an Africa wall in honor of our trip there. However, being dually unemployed, there is no disposable income for printing out pictures. So we went to triple-A and asked for some brochures. We got plenty of great pictures of animals to fill frames we had in storage. I filled in the frames and arranged them all in a big rectangle with Brad's walking stick above it. He bought the stick in a Masai village and we're amazed it made it home in one piece. The whole thing looks really cool, if you ask me. And it was fun! I got to get all Martha-y on it and hang things perfectly. And even use fractions and stuff.

Here's a close-up of the wall. Click on the pic to see the pictures better.


In the cleaning out-- we also emptied and reorganized the closet-- I ended up with a few boxes to go through. One is our wedding box-- extra invitations, my veil, etc. I'm working on a shadow box for that which I'll hang next to my dressing table.

Also, on Monday night I just felt nudged to go help out with vacation Bible school at our new church. We got there about midway through as Brad was at his client all day, and we were greeted warmly and excitedly! The people we've met are just nice, genuine folks and we left feeling really blessed. And also exhausted. We've been used to being each other's only friend and only source of attention. Since we're the new folks at church, everyone says hi, introduces themselves, tells us their story, etc. Which is great, sincerely. It's just a lot! But after a day off yesterday we're planning to go back again tonight. Plus, we got connected on Monday with a guy who might have some job opportunities for us. We'll see how things go.

On another note, we're heading to Chicago for a visit in July. We arrive late Tuesday night (July 3rd) and will be free until Friday afternoon. If you're one of our Chicago friends, we'd love to try to get together! We haven't made plans yet but will be doing so soon. Perhaps a cookout somewhere? A little potluck somewhere? Dinner at Pita Inn? (Oh, drooling.)

He hears me.

We've been working in the office today, reorganizing and sorting
through stuff that we've tossed in there over the past few months.
Ok, it's only my side of the office that was a mess, but who has time
to put away sewing kits or actually file bank statements? Not me,
sirree.

In our fervor we decided to turn the office into a
bedroom-with-a-desk-- more marketable than two-bedrooms-and-an-office.
Which was really two-bedrooms-and-a-computer-lab, thanks to our many
computers. Anyway, the work computer is going away as is the big
corner desk, hooray. Which leaves the room nice and ready for... a
bed we don't have. We have a queen sized blow-up bed, but I
reallllllly wanted a twin bed. It is a perfect bedroom for a kid, and
most kids have twin beds. But beds are expensive, and we have
negative income right now, so I just sighed a lot and whined, "But I
want a TWIN bed. Argh." And I resigned myself to a queen blow-up bed
put up on boxes to look like a regular bed. Redecorating, ghetto
style.

We went to dinner tonight at Ralph and Chris's for fun, and had a
great time. Jeff and the kids were there, too, and we really enjoyed
being together. On our way home, about two blocks from home, we
noticed something in the front yard of a house, by the curb.

There, sitting in the rain, was a twin bed.

Not a mattress, because that would be icky. I'll happily buy a $17
blow up twin mattress from Walmart. It was a nice looking wood twin
bed frame. I am touched that He hears my wants and even provides
beds in the rain. Two blocks from home, so we could run home and get
tools to take it apart. Two blocks from home, so when the biggest
part didn't fit in the car, Brad could carry it home and it wasn't a
big deal. He hears me. <sigh>

My new BFF

So last night I re-enrolled at my former high school to get my
bachelors in engineering. I wasn't feeling well, was
directionally-confused and couldn't find my locker for the life of me.
Then my mom's friend Debby stepped in and said I could share lockers
with her daughter, Christina, who was magically 12 again and scowled
at me and didn't want to share.

From there I went straight to the lobby of the police department to
meet my two BFFs (Best Friend Forever), Paris Hilton and Nicole
Richie. It seems Paris wanted me around to act as a comfort and a
spiritual adviser of sorts as we dawdled in the lobby before she
turned herself into the jail to serve her sentence. She wasn't quite
ready when we all arrived so we just hung out in the lobby for a while
with her two cats and one dog, watching the cats do tricks. Nicole
was delightful and charming and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

How I wish I could say that this dream was the product of something
hallucinogenic I'd taken before bed, but alas, all I had was an
allergy pill. My mind is a fascinating place to be.

In other news, Brad had a really good interview this morning and
should hear back in a week or so. Fingers crossed, prayers lifted,
hopes held high. This would be a grrrrreat fit for him. And it comes
with six free credit hours of college courses for him and/or me. Um,
physics, here I come! How fun would that be??? Remember I'm nerdy, so
the answer is REALLY FUN! And then I could take the physics teaching
test and be certified to teach physics. That would be super fun.

In still other news, we're considering turning the office into a third
bedroom for open houses' sake. We plan to have an open house every
Sunday until the place sells, which could mean a while but what else
do I have going on? So the office may get rearranged sometime soon,
which would mean my desk would probably end up in the guest suite,
which I like the idea of. We need to somehow procure a twin bed on
the cheapy cheapy, so we're thinking inflatable mattress from Walmart
on a bedframe and box spring from Goodwill. Any other ideas for a
cheap twin bed, used mattresses not allowed?

Adventures in unemployed-land

Due to lots of free time on our hands, we've taken to dreaming up local cheap adventures. Today we decided to see Lake Okeechobee. Just for you fun fact junkies, uki = big, chubi = water, in Seminole Indian speak, so you get ukichubi, or big water. Or the Americanized version (which is usually the phonetic version for us simple Americans) Okeechobee. It's the second largest freshwater lake in the lower 48, next to Lake Michigan. Certainly warrants a visit, don't you think? We drove to the closest point, about an hour away, in Clewiston, Florida. Lovely Clewiston. Don't-blink-you'll-miss-it-Clewiston.

After the drive across 80 we stopped at the CVS so I could load up on allergy meds as breathing was a challenge today. In the parking lot we came across this. No idea what the story is, but I like to think sliced bread is hard to come by in these parts and he's an importer, or better yet, it's the bread black market. And yes, they were exchanging cash and looking at us a bit nervously.


We drove a few more minutes, past the ubiquitous Walmart, and followed a sign pointing to Lake Okeechobee Scenic Path or something similar. Now I had read ahead of time that the Army Corps of Engineers decided to ruin all prospect of people capitalizing upon a decent view of the large lake and they built a 30-foot tall berm around the entire thing. Mmmm hmmm, them are good tax dollars at work. Anyway. It probably serves some purpose I can't think of and is terribly helpful. So I was warned, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I expected to see a break in the berm, a place to enjoy a vista or something wonderful. This is what we saw.


There's your lake for ya.

Determined to see water, we followed every possible sign that mentioned the lake. We first followed some official-looking brown signs that pointed to the Army Corps headquarters for the area. We really liked the vintage-looking font on the front of the building.

There was an arrow pointing to the front yard of a house with a sign that said "Lake Okeechobee Parking", but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what that was supposed to do for us. We weren't about to park in someone's front lawn and walk a half-mile to this:


(Did I mention it was like 90 degrees and humid today? Definitely felt like an oven, and I wasn't leaving air conditioning unless I was guaranteed my vista.)

We decided to drive cooly past the Army building, through the "Official Vehicles Only" gate to get closer to this ramp. Because what if what was over that hump was amazing? I couldn't pass that up. We parked off to the side and walked up the road. This is what we saw when we got to the top:


Psst-- message to the Army: it's not technically a lake unless it's ALL water. This would be classified as a marsh. Just so you know.

Ok, I will admit that if we strained our eyes we could see water far off in the distance. That was enough hope to encourage us to keep looking. We decided to follow one more sign as a last ditch effort for a vista. It was a sign pointing to Joe's Fish Camp. Fish = Water, right? We followed the road to nowhere and kept going. We could see the berm in the distance, rising above the sugarcane. Never seen sugarcane growing in the wild like this-- more fields of sugarcane than corn in Indiana, almost. Apparently about 10 percent of the country's sugar is produced in Clewiston. It looks like big grass.


So we got to Joe's Fish Camp and didn't stop at the stop sign where we were supposed to ring the bell on the double-wide. We drove up the little ramp to the top of the berm and saw this:

We could see that the water level is crazy low as these little docks are supposed to be floating. And we could see evidence of a lake in the far off distance.

And then we drove home. For our next adventure we're considering driving over to Titusville, FL, to see the Atlantis launch on Friday night.

Fun with wonton wrappers

In my quest to come up with exciting and different new foods I bought some wonton wrappers. I made veggie wontons, baked, the other day and they weren't bad. Sauteed some shredded cabbage and carrots with garlic and added soy sauce. Yum. Baked isn't as good as fried, but what else is new.

Having about 3/4 of the package of wrappers left, I decided to make teeny egg rolls. I made a bunch with the cabbage mixture and they turned out well. Then I decided to get all crazy with it and make some ham and cheese egg rolls. They were tasty, too! I minced deli ham, shredded colby jack cheese, and scallions. Bite sized and delish!


(with the fork for size comparison)

Update, but not much to say

I got an offer from the remodeler-- the salary was laughable and it's still a 50 minute drive.  I'm going to call to turn it down soon.  Crazy, I know, but I can do better temping. 

I learned this morning that our contract is up June 23 with our Realtor and we can sell it then.  The 120 days thing applies only if the person saw the house first with our Realtor. So we will be throwing the For Sale By Owner sign out front June 24th and putting it on craigslist even sooner.  Our price will be just above what we owe on our mortgage so we have some haggle room.  That price is still a bit high for the market but a drop of $25k from where we have it priced now.  Without a listing agent we have less exposure so it will be a little trickier to find a buyer, but it is possible.  Might take out ads in northern papers or something.  Pass the word!

So that's where we are with things.  We're back at square one with jobs and are sending out resumes often.  We're hanging on to hope that God will provide for us, and secretly I'm hoping that provision includes a moving truck.

With a state like this, how could we leave?

Much thanks to Court, who alerted us to the fight that Florida is engaged in... against African cat-sized rats. How many midwestern states are fighting that good fight? Huh?

Our most local fight is against love bugs. It's love bug season, when the air is peppered with these little mating geniuses. They fly around stuck together for up to 56 hours, unless they meet a windshield or bumper sooner. Here's a hint-- there's a reason why more evolved species don't mate in the middle of the street. Bugs, learn a lesson and do the deed in privacy. Much better chance of survival. This is a car we saw in a parking lot this week. It's just really nasty. Remember the gnat infestation in Evanston a few years back? It's not quite that bad in most places, but in rural areas there are piles of dead bugs in the median, between lanes, and on the side of the road. It sounds like we're hitting hail as we drive. Super gross. The local car wash places even consulted a REAL! CHEMIST! to come up with a formula to dissolve the carcasses as the acid from the bugs eats the paint.


On an unrelated note, cooking makes me happy. (I could do a contrived segue here about love bugs...17-year cicadas in Chicago...cicada recipes...cooking but I'll refrain.) To boost my spirits I tried making pizza from scratch last night, but I can't for the life of me find Brandon's crust recipe. I found a similar one online and tried it and it was just like a brick. I'll keep looking as "for the life of me" actually means "I looked for 10 minutes" in this case. But if it doesn't turn up I'll be asking for it again. Sooo good, Brandon.

I used a variation of this sauce recipe. I used only 2 t of honey instead of 2T and it was still pretty sweet. The spices were great, though, and I used a drop or two of worcestershire instead of anchovy paste. I'll make this again.

And I threw a few circles of provolone on top. Could have used more cheese. We ate our fill but will revamp things a bit.

At least it looked pretty cool.

So I'm toying with this idea...

What if we moved to Columbus now? 

We have one month left on our contract with our realtor.  After that we have 120 days before we can sell it on our own.  So as of October 22 or so, we could drop the price a bunch as we would no longer have realtor commissions to pay.  Which would make it actually sellable, unlike the present situation.

In the meantime, we could move up north, put our stuff in storage, find a cheap place to stay for a few months, find jobs, and pay the mortgage on an empty house for a little while until it sells. 

What do you think?  Is that crazy?  Ever done it before?  Thoughts, please!

Puppies don't stay still

We went over to Beth and Rico's on Saturday to help them bring a couch down to their driveway for their garage sale. They got a new puppy on Friday, a little friend for Kena as the other dogs are not so friendly with her. Isabella, below, is a sweet puppy with a calm personality. If we were going to get a dog, this would be it. Such a sweetie.





We also went to weight watchers in the morning and I was down 1.6 pounds, for a total of 6.6 in 4 weeks. They say to expect an average of 1 lb. per week, so I'm happy.

On Sunday we went to the local Vineyard church. We had been there when we first got in town and it has it oddities, but it was also a safe place where we knew the doctrine was good. We will be back.

On the job front, I was offered another teaching position yesterday. I have to call the lady back this morning and tell her if I want it. I'm not so sure I do. It's been feast and famine in our house-- I'm getting calls back like crazy with offers I don't want, and Brad, who sends out twice the resumes I am, is getting no calls back. So weird. Please keep praying for direction for us!

Our cooking experiments

Here are the pics I told you about. I preheated the skillet before pouring in the onions, peppers, and chicken, resulting in a nice steam effect, much like the restaurant. Except the steam was a bit prolific and we were a bit afraid that our ceiling would be fajita-ed.


Here is Brad trying out his special salsa. It turned out a bit hotter than we wanted and a little heavy on the cumin, but lacking in onion flavor. So Brad added a few more onions. Yum!


And the fajita flavor was good. Nothing like chili's, but good. Chili's is sweeter, more like a teriyaki. We'll make some adjustments next time.


And we learned how the flavors marry overnight. We put the leftover salsa in the fridge and tried it for dinner on Saturday. Whooooa onions. We need to work on the proportions a bit, but we're on our way.

Fun evening!

We cooked dinner together tonight, one of my favorite things to do.  Brad made salsa in the food processor using a chili's knockoff recipe.  I made fajitas, again using a chili's knockoff recipe.  I can't wait to show you pictures-- it was steaming and everything!  But it didn't taste like chili's.  It tasted good, but chili's is sweeter.  Oh well. 

Tomorrow morning is weigh-in at ww.  Then we're off to an auction at an antique store downtown.  Well, our version of downtown. 

Happy weekend, all!

Seen on the road the other day...

Well, as long as you slap a Jesus fish on there, I guess it's ok to have that stupid license plate frame that says, "Get in, sit down, shut up, and hang on."

I hate that frame. So disrespectful and selfish and rude.

Just like being on the beach, almost

Brad made the most of his time on Thursday digging a big hole in our front yard. We've had a water problem there in the triangle formed by the house and the front walk. Whenever it rains at all, the water gathers in the corner and floods out the plants, who are inches from death even despite the drought. We've gotten two days of quick showers and even with that little water we get a pool. Brad came up with the bright idea of digging a dry well for the water to seep into. He dug a hole about a foot and a half deep and a foot and a half in diameter, and also tunnel-ed partway under the walk. He put a perforated pipe under the walk, which we wrapped tootsie-roll-style with a silt filter to keep dirt out. Then he put a big bucket, actually the black plastic thing our foxtail palm came in, in the hole and filled it with rocks, covered it with silt filter, and covered it all over with dirt and mulch. Looks like nothing has changed, but hopefully it will make a life-or-death difference for our little lantana flowers.

Gut check

I've seen my new counselor twice, and while I won't share all my innermost secret thoughts here, I'll just say she's great and is helping me sort things out a lot. The main point I'm working on is listening to my gut to help me make the big decisions facing us right now. I guess I kind of cut off my gut and discarded it when the house I was sure was right for us in Ohio was sold to someone else-- I guess I felt like if my gut was wrong on that, it must be wrong on everything. I'm working on listening to myself more and taking care of myself, and despite the stress of being unemployed, etc., I'm doing well. Thank you, God!

On the job front: I had two observations scheduled for Wednesday at the two schools that gave me offers. Before those observations I went to a local at-risk girls school which I found online on Monday. I interviewed there on Tuesday and was told to come back on Wednesday morning. I met with their academic director for a while, observed some classes there and looked over the life skills curriculum I would be teaching. It could be a really cool situation despite the attitudes of some of the girls. I just got called back this morning to come in on Monday for a third interview. I'll keep you posted.

So after the girls school I went to the charter schools. The 7th grade teacher I observed was great-- a really good teacher with great systems in place. The kids were pretty well behaved and the curriculum is do-able for me. Then I went to the high school. Again, decent curriculum, but I was not impressed with the teaching nor the students. I left early and came home in a daze. I was supposed to tell them both which one I chose by 3 p.m. and I got home around 2 p.m. One hour to make a decision, and I had no good feeling either way. Brad had only a few minutes to talk things over with me before he had to head off to an interview. It was a really rough afternoon for me. I couldn't get a real gut feeling that made any sense. What I was thinking was, "I don't want to be a teacher. I want to turn both schools down." But what sense does that make? I have no income, they are offering income, why would I say no? But I am choosing to trust that I know myself and that I'm making a wise decision. After talking things over with my mom and Shanel, I had a much better feeling. Then I talked with my sister-in-law who was going to be working at the middle school with me... she had just turned down her offer there and decided to stay at her present school. After all these conversations, I felt sort of ok with saying no to both of them. I emailed them to let them know I would call them in the morning, that it was too big of a decision to rush.

Brad and I went out for dinner after he got back from his interview. He applied with a placement agency that specializes in accounting placements and met with a bunch of people and took a bunch of tests. He was exhausted when he got home as well. So we had some PF Changs at the new one nearby and stared at the floor most of the time in a stupor. We went to bed around 8:45 p.m. and didn't wake up until 9:30 yesterday morning. It was a rough day!

So yesterday I called both schools to decline the jobs and I feel super great about it. The population down here is just rough, and I know how things went down at my previous teaching job. Things were just too similar in the schools, and I've also learned in the past year how much I like small group situations instead of large classroom situations. Put that all together and I'm not going to be a traditional teacher for now.

I interviewed yesterday with a remodeler and am waiting to hear back from him. I was there for nearly two hours and it was a really fun interview. We get along quite well and I would learn a lot about remodeling, something I'm very interested in. But he's looking for someone who is here for the long haul, and I can't promise anything. In fact, as soon as we can sell the house we're out of here, so I'm a bit ambivalent about pursuing that. He's also 45 minutes away and the pay is rather low.

I have a third interview on Monday at the at-risk girls school. I like the idea of it-- providing support to at-risk girls in all arenas, physical, social, academic, emotional. I would be teaching life skills, which is basically group therapy. The curriculum is all written out which is great, and I would enjoy that. However, these girls are tough and it's not unusual to be cussed out. I don't get excited about that. But I am very interested in single-sex education and this would be another place to get some experience and learn about another population. Plus it's year round, so if we had to move in a few months it wouldn't be as bad as leaving a regular 10 month school midyear.

Today I also applied with a placement agency, seeking executive administrative positions. Who knows.

A lot is up the air, and things are tough at times. How will we make our budget? How much of our savings will we have to eat up? You know the drill. But we are encouraged to be in this together, and when one feels weak the other is strong. Thank you all for praying for us and encouraging us. We appreciate it more than you know!

Down came the rain

This is my view right now from the driveway. It's raining! We need this rain so much. And it's forecasted for every day this week! Wheee! If I listen real carefully I can hear the parched ground praising God for this drink.

And then he drop-kicked the baby into the second row...

So we tried a new church yesterday. The worship was good but the pastor was not. I'll leave out the parts about "God gave me a word and you all need to just submit" and "Thank goodness for children-- you tell them to come down front and speak in tongues and they just march down and go babblebabblebabble. Adults argue with you about cessationism-- why don't they just take a look at the hundred thousand verses about that"-- oops, I didn't leave that out. Anyway, it was capped off by the story from the pastor's ever-winding stream of consciousness about another pastor that healed a child from cancer by drop-kicking the baby into the second row. We didn't stay for the sermon.

Today has been a full day already for me. I spent some time on job sites online, submitting a few applications. Tomorrow I have an interview at a girls' school for dropouts-- should be interesting. I'm a huge fan of all-girl education and this place looks cool online. We'll see. I also have been offered a middle school math teaching position and a high school math teaching position. I'm going in to observe both schools on Wednesday and have to tell them yes or no that day. Please pray for good guts that day. I've been having trouble trusting my gut lately and am trying to get that back. I also talked with a guy who owns a small remodeling business and he wants to meet with me about working for him. Doesn't pay well at all, but could be a way to learn about remodeling, something I want to do when I grow up.

So things are busy. Kinda feels a little too busy, but I am grateful to have employment. Oh-- I also got asked to teach summer school for the month of June. Pay is bad, but it's something.

Happy Mothers Day!

...to my dearest mother, the beautiful, the strong, the wise, the kind. I love you and am grateful for you and miss you so much it hurts sometimes.

New life

Our little foxtail palm has a new frond! The 'antenna' started looking funny about a week ago and I wondered if he was sick. Turns out he's fine!

I'm not convinced this is going to be our best resource...

Day 1 of mutual job searching went well.  We started by heading over to our mortgage folks to explain that we needed some options.  we received no real help. But at least I'm not angry with our realtor any longer for not letting us out of our contract.  I had been upset with him as one cannot refinance when one's house is on the mls.  But it turns out that refinancing wouldn't save us much after all. Blech.

Then we went to the One St*op Car*eer Center.  Turns out it's also the un*employment office-- surprise.  We passed up the meth-addict-looking receptionist and walked past the very busy dept of children and fam*ily services to an office where a gentleman handed us a brochure for the mini job fair they're having on Thursday.  Some of the featured employers were the Waffle House and department of corrections.  We left.

Decisions, decisions.

So after The Talk this morning, in which my boss cried as it broke his heart to fire me, I packed up my office, trained him on my computer and to-do list, and came home. I couldn't decide what to do with myself-- never having been drunk, what better occasion to try it out? Or perhaps I'd like to turn to my favorite vice, eating? We have plenty of ice cream in the freezer. Instead, I took a shower to wash the day off of me.

I just feel so weird. I haven't dealt with a lot of traditional rejection in my life. Pretty much all of the rejection I've faced is the kind where the relationship is over because the person died. So I've never been dumped, never been fired. This is not a fun feeling. I'm sad because I don't want to see my bosses struggle. And I think I'm sad for other reasons, but I don't know what they are. I'm scared for our finances. I'm scattered as I have been lately, only now even more. I'm thankful to have found a counselor who I'll be seeing for the first time on Wednesday.

I've just been fired.

I have three weeks paid to find a job.  Please pray for us.

Sunday adventures

Quite a morning it has been.  We are exceedingly sad to learn that our friend Mark passed away last night.  His wife, Ruth, has kept up their blog throughout Mark's illness and has been an incredible inspiration to us.  www.thejackson4.com .

On our way to church we ran over a snake in the street in front of our house and it broke in half.  The back half kept jumping around as the front half lay still.  Brad got it all on video.  Maybe I'll post it later.  Pretty cool for boys, really gross for girls, to make a sweeping generalization.  Oh, and then when Brad got out to look at it, the head snapped back at him, still moving.  Ewww.  Made us nearly lose our breakfasts.  It was just a little guy, but still.

And we learned we're not Episcopalians.  But my former assistant principal was the guy serving communion. 

All in all, a very odd morning.  Now we're off for a long Sunday afternoon nap.

Fried Day Again

And I really do feel a bit fried.  It has been a funny day here at work-- I've talked to quite a few people who have heartily wished me a good weekend.  It's not unusual to say, "Have a good weekend!" and hang up, but these have been hearty, "Have a GOOD WEEKEND, OK?" as though my voice is communicating that I need a weekend, badly.  Or perhaps they all need a weekend.  Anyhow, funny day.

 

We're a little excited about an opportunity we found online yesterday for Brad.  It's a position much like one he held in Chicago, and in my not-so-humble opinion, he's a shoe-in for it.  And I think he'd enjoy it.  Trouble is, it's a huge paycut.  So we've decided to sacrifice here and there.  Starting with sleep.  We're just going to go all out and give it up completely.  It hasn't come easily in the last few months anyway, so why force it?  If we work 24 hours at a local big-box store, we could have a hefty paycheck and not a worry in the world.  But the worry part is probably due to deliriousness, and that's frowned upon especially when driving. In all seriousness, this job would suit Brad well.  And it's up to God to make ends meet.  I don't know how he'll do it, so get excited because we're going to see him move.

 

This weekend looks to be pretty mellow.  The weather is now consistently in the 90's so that nixes garage projects for the most part.  Might do some organization in the office, which I've been saying for weeks.

 

Oh- I meant to tell you!  We saw a sweet movie a week or two ago, called The Chorus.  It's a French film about a man who goes to work at a boys' school and starts a chorus.  Netflix it or request it from your local Blockbuster.  We both enjoyed it quite a bit.  And now we need something to name Pepinot, because that was the name of the cutest little boy in the movie.  Maybe the Miata?

Fall comes to Florida... in April?

Here's a view of our back parking lot at work. I took the pic last week when I noticed that some of the trees here are shedding their leaves! Never noticed that before.

In other news, we're heavy into job search mode. I haven't been given notice yet, though I know I'm nearly dead weight around here. I'm researching my options just in case, I guess, and truthfully I'd like a bit more to do. If I could find something almost full time and work one day a week here, that would be the best right now as I don't see things picking up any time real soon. I interviewed on Saturday at some local ch*arter schools (have to insert characters sometimes so I can't be googled). The high school and middle school near us-- 12 minute commute-- are both hiring, so I went to their interview fair. After four interviews at the high school things look pretty positive. I'll know in the next two weeks if they will offer me anything.

Then I went to the middle school down the road, and after two interviews was offered a 7th grade position on the spot. It was certainly an ego boost to recount my experiences in education, as I've been incredibly blessed with some amazing colleagues, schools, and roles. But as I interviewed (in a sick, sleepy stupor and with words only God could have given me), I kept thinking, "I don't want to teach. I just don't want to do this. Nothing in me wants to be here..." Not sure if that's due to months of being bored, weeks of being sick, years of being annoyed with Florida, a general bad attitude, or wisdom. I thanked them for the offer and said I would get back to them in the next two weeks.

And yesterday I interviewed at the local li*brary. It's a 6 minute drive away, and if our street went across the canal over there I could see it from our driveway. The ladies I interviewed with were people I could totally see myself working with, and they all love their jobs and the staff there. I don't know the first thing about li*braries, but I do know kids, and it was a youth li*brarian position. They said they'd let me know within a month. Eek. The pay would be horrible and I'm not sure liveable. But it would be fun and a lot less stressful than teaching. Oh, I just don't know.

Brad has put the full court press on his job search. He attended a job fair downtown the other day, has submitted many resumes on line, and is pounding the pavement today. Please pray for favorable replies and direction. At this point we're not looking for our dream jobs, just something to get us through for a year or so until the market picks back up.

In other news, weight watchers has been going well and actually is giving me some illusion of control over my life. Week one I lost 2.8 pounds. Woo hoo! In my quest for good recipes I came across this-- a pretty cool recipe site on google. I've also been using allrecipes.com quite a bit. I just refuse to subsist on fat free cheese, boiled chicken breast, splenda and fat free cool whip. I need real food with real flavor, and it has been fun to daydream, meal plan, and cook more lately. Other places, in case you're bored with your food, are martha stewart's new website, Kraft's food and family (subscribe for a free quarterly mag), and a host of food blogs I have in my google reader.

That's all for now. Thanks for your prayers, friends and family! Oh, dear- I almost forgot to mention my grandparents' anniversary last Saturday! Sixty-four years if I'm not mistaken. Which is hard to do when you claim to be 70 years old. Hm. Congratulations, Grandparents!!! And happy birthday, Grandfather!

A dry spell = fires

It has been an unusually active fire season this spring. About once a week we look outside and see a dark stack of smoke rising from somewhere nearby. We've taken to chasing them to see where they are-- not the most wise choice, probably, and also a bit fruitless as what are we going to do once we find it? High-five each other and go back home. But it has been nuts lately. This morning we woke up to a smoky house-- the huge wildfires in the area have left a lingering smoky smell that has been concentrated by the dense fogs. Thankfully there were no new fires this morning, but waking up to a stinky bedroom certainly causes one to wake quickly!

This past weekend a fire started just east of the old airport here, between the airport and us. It has burned for quite a few days and was mostly under control by yesterday, though it did burn two houses and more than 1000 acres. Lehigh has lots of vacant lots with lots of brush and old pine trees, fueling fires easily and spreading them quickly. We're thankful to live in a new-ish neighborhood with few tall trees.

Back in the land of the living

Last Wednesday I woke up with this cold and spent most of the past week on the couch, looking like this. I'm finally back at work full time and feeling muuuuch better, thanks to a Z-pak of antibiotics I got on Monday. Thing was, my mind was active even though my body wouldn't cooperate. So in my mind I have most of the house reorganized. Now I just need to follow through.