A Day Off

Spent here-

 Laying under this-

 Then enjoying some lemonade and a sandwich from here-

 

Playing with her-

But now it needs to get a bit less pleasant while I put away all this-

Before going here-

With a bunch of ladies from church tonight.

Oh, and I did get promoted, but more on that later, I'm not thinking about work today!

Back again

So, it was a bit of a weird week.

Found out on Tuesday I'm not completely out of the running to move up at work.  I had a phone interview with our now former District Manager (her last day was yesterday) about possibly overriding the test you're supposed to pass to be considered. I guess my observation part of the interview (that I never knew even happened on her last visit to our store) was so good, and my test was so close, that I'm still in consideration. I probably would have known yesterday had my manager not been off. Now I get to wait until Sunday to find out if I'm getting promoted or not.  It's kind of driving me nuts, but kind of not. I'm really not that worried about it, but we could use the 6-12 extra hours worth of pay, and the extra $2 an hour.  I think I have a decent chance as I was one of 4 finalists, and I'm the only one the DM made a followup call about to my manager, so that's a good sign, but I'm not going to be crushed if I don't get it. My husband on the other hand will be, he's determined I deserve it and no one else should get it. Flattering, but probably a bit exaggerated. :)

The husband on the other hand, had a rough work week.  The latter half of July til early August is slow season for him.  Meaning, as a contract worker, he may only get work 2-3 days a week instead of his usual 5-6, which is pretty depressing to him.  I'm just praying he can still see his worth even if he's contributing a bit less financially for a few weeks and can get through it still enjoying his job. He loves the job, when it's busy, so hopefully this slow spell doesn't ruin it for him.

We did actually get a day and a half off together this week though, and it was wonderful!!  We didn't do anything major, just slept, caught up on our Tivo and run a few errands together, but it made a huge difference in my outlook for the week.  We're just a bit more insync now.

I'm kind of thinking the other reason things are going better between us is this book-



I can not recommend it enough. I've read through it twice, prayed through it both times (never in the month suggested, always takes me 2 or 3) and this time I'm journaling my way through it as well. 

A few favorite quote from the first 4 chapters-

"It's a gentle tool of restoration appropriated through the prayers of a wife who longs to DO right more than BE right." (speaking of the power of prayer)

"That's because prayer is the ultimate love language"
"Talking to God about your husband is an act of love"

"If He asks us to prayer for our enemies, how much more should we be praying for the person with whom we have become one and are supposed to love?"

"Telling your husband everything that is wrong with him is not only ill-advised, it probably doesn't reveal the complete truth"

"Our goal must not be to get our husbands to do what WE want, but rather release him to God so He can get them to do what HE wants"

"Allow your husband to be the head so you can be the heart"

"When disappointing things happen it's best to remind myself of my husband's good qualities"

"Loss of respect seems to precede loss of love and is more hurtful to a man than we realize"

And those are just from the first chapter.  It's a great tool to strengthen the spiritual bond between you and your husband. 

It's my day off, so I'm off to do laundry, and put away last week's laundry and go grocery shopping and to the bank and all those other fun things we do on days off.

Have a great weekend!

Still playing catch up

So, after 2 months off, be ready for lots of double blog days!  If you haven't read the prior post yet, please do, it has all the big stuff in it, this one is just all my little daily thoughts type stuff.

I've been keeping up with the working out. Haven't lost a single pound, but I've dropped almost an inch off my butt and waist, and a half an inch on my thighs, (butt and thighs are definitely my problem areas!) and have done some arm toning, without actually measuring, the backs of my arms basically just don't jiggle so much. :)  My standard routine is
15 minutes Elliptical (typically 1.35ish miles)
15 reps on the leg machine that does the outside of your thighs
15 reps on the leg machine that does the inside of your thights
15 of those things where you hold your body up by your arms on handle things and pull your legs up to 90 degrees
15 reps on the machine where you press your arms in against the weights
15 reps on the machine where you pull the bar down against the weights
and 75 crunches.

Can you tell I've never belonged to a gym before and don't really know anything about the machines except for what the little instruction posters on them tell me?  If anyone wants to correct my names for things, feel free.

I go 3-4 times a week, just basically trying to stay toned without really changing my body any.  I'm loving it and the days I work out, I notice I don't feel like I need quite as much coffee.  I've always been a coffee girl, started stealing my dad's at 12, spending my babysitting money on Starbucks with my girlfriends in highschool, and a complete, a pot a day addict by age 19. After getting married I started cutting back to two cups (or one 20oz travel mug) in the morning and then one either in the afternoon or evening.  I'm basically down to one necessary (16oz) cup a day and then a social coffee drink once or twice a week.

We've gotten really involved in a Nearly and Newlyweds class at our church and I'm loving everything we do with it.  I'm the social coordinator, we've had one social at our house and are planning an Astros game to go to as a group later in the month.

Alot of the women in our group have decided to read through the Bible together. They're doing it rather slowly, and having read through it in highschool and again as an adult, I decided to opt out. 

I'm re-reading "The Power of the Praying Wife", which I highly recommend!  It came as a suggestion from an absolutely amazing Pastor's wife I knew back in NY, who was a bit of a mentor for me. She recommended re-reading it every few years, so I'm on re-read number two.  I'm noticing it's just like she said, every stage of your marriage you get something different out of it, or a new part becomes relevant, and it's definitely something new for me each read.  If you want to join me in reading, let me know, I just restarted it this week.  If not, I'll try to give you some of my notes on it.

We're also, as a couple, reading the book "The 5 Love Languages" for the first time.  I know it's kind of a classic in Christian marriage related literature, but we'd done a short study on it without ever reading the book and decided to go back and read the whole thing. Definitely worth it so far.  I'll try to do a few posts on it as I get further into it.

I think that's it for tonight, I'm sure to have a few event specific posts, or food posts in the next few days, still trying to get caught up.

Is this thing still working??

I know, seriously? 2 months without a post? Some of you must be wondering if I'm still alive, other than the fact that most of my loyal readers are also friends with me on facebook. :)  Anyone else, introduce yourselves so I know who's reading!

Anyways, I owe about a dozen posts that are topic specific, but instead, I'm going to just give you a brief run down of what's been on my mind and keeping me from posting.

First off, I found out in early May that I was going to be an Aunt by early December!!!  Congratulations to my sister and her husband on the arrival of their BABY GIRL in 20 weeks!! I was sworn to secrecy until this weekend, so I haven't been talking to alot of people for fear of slipping. 

 This picture is a year old, but it doesn't make any difference, I'm still going to have one very beautiful niece in a few short months! Too bad she'll be living way up in Minnesota with her parents. :)

In late May I was asked be our Nearlywed & Newlywed's Group at church's social coordinator, so every other week I remind the ladies that it's Starbucks night (Good group, huh? This was established before I got there!) and once a month set up a social gathering of some form for the couples. We hosted the first one here in the end of May.

Same weekend I also helped my friend Amber (middle) host a Baby Shower for her sister Kailey. Kailey's 17, and doesn't have a very stable faith, so I know Amber would appreciate your prayers for her.

**
The first week of June we headed over to Disney World with my parents so they could work a couple of shifts and keep their seasonal cast member status up.

**

In mid June we were able to attend our first wedding down here.  Our friends from class Jim & Maryanne got married.  They are an amazing couple, so perfect for each other, so strong in their faiths and ready for marriage, it was a great wedding, just wishing I'd actually brought my zoom since I wasn't the official photographer and had to take my pictures from farther away.

In mid June I took a test through work to find out if I was eligible for a promotion/raise to "Sales Lead", of course it's a messed up trick question test (according to my manager even) and I missed by 3 points, so I'll be retaking it sometime in September/October.

The first week of July we found out my brother in law finally proposed to his girlfriend after 5 years.  So, there will be a wedding in NY sometime in the next year. Whether we'll be invited or not is still up in the air, but there will be a wedding, and I'll finally have another girl on my husband's side. Hopefully things get worked out eventually between them. At the moment we're unfriended on facebook, blocked from contacting them on facebook, and not getting responses to emails or texts, so we'll see. We're leaving the door open on our end and reminding him especially that it's still open on our end, so we just have to wait for him to come around at this point.

This is quite literally a 3 year old picture of them, but it's the best I have without stealing one of their profile pics, and I'd rather not cause a problem.

So, basically that's been all the big events.

I'll try to get a more personal blog going later this weekend. I'm back, I'm not planning on stopping blogging again anytime soon either, so keep reading!

When the words can't come....

So I have plenty of topics to blog about, in my head, because they're all topics I either can't, or am afraid to speak about on here. 

There are topics I want to share, but am not allowed to, and that bothers me, even when things aren't mine to share necessarily, I don't like being seen as the bad guy and this horrible selfish insensitive, jerk for wanting to talk about things that excite me.  Good news is meant to be shared, scary news is meant to be prayed about, how can either of those things happen when everything's kept secret?

After my last blogging experience, writing about personal struggles and annoyances terrifies me. The threats and emotional abuse I had to take from people was ridiculous, and the thought of having things that belong to me destroyed over my words is scary, because then I'd justifiably feel the need to press charges, which would bring out even more garbage, and do more emotional damage to relationships that according to me, already seem beyond repair.

It's a messed up world, which means all of my messed up feelings have to stay inside of me, at least in any detail.  It seems every time I say anything, phone, facebook, here, I upset someone, so maybe I should just stay silent for awhile, I'm getting tired of getting yelled at....

4 Years Ago Today

Astros, Absenteeism (probably not a word) and a little bit of slacking.

So, I haven't written anything in about a week, really bad for me, and you, because this is likely to be a long post!

Since last week, we've been to an Astro's Game....Great seats, free parking, all courtesy of my aunt's fiance who got them from work and couldn't use them, so much fun!

 Beautiful Park!

 BEST SIGN EVER!!

My only excuse for my lack of posting, would be work. I seriously worked all but one day out of each of teh last three weeks.  I'm loving it though!  The job is going great, mostly great people, not bad hours, 5-6 hour shifts only between 9am and 7pm, and I've already been offered a lead sales position!!  Normally you have to be with the company for 6 months, well, I've only been there 2, so I have to test out of their "Management Aptitude" test to officially get the position, but it's been offered.  I take the test over the weekend and find out Monday, so I'm a bit anxious about that.  It would mean a 22% raise and an average of 30 hours instead of 20, which I wouldn't mind at all, and I'd still be able to have 2 evenings a week off to start booking lessons, if those ever show up.  It would be great, all around, so I'm hoping the test is pretty basic. I've been in management before, but in smaller companies without so many manuals (I wrote one company's!) and never had to take a test to get there.


Running wise, I got in 10 miles last week, barely, because of time issues.  I've discovered I just plain get bored running after about a half an hour, so it's really hard to run much more than 2 1/2 to 3 miles at a time.  Today was the first I ran this week, and I got in 2 miles before I got bored.  10 miles might be a stretch this week, especially since I don't really care to run before work on early mornings. Work usually involves heels and heels after running just doesn't work for me. I may have to start running in the afternoons/evenings next week, we'll see. I made my inches, so if I back off a little I'm just hoping they don't come back. I'm officially my wedding day measurements, so that's a huge deal for me!

Working at noon today, still need to put away 4 loads of laundry and figure out what to wear and what to eat, so I'm going to run. Miss you guys! I'm reading, even if I'm not posting or doing much commenting.

Prayers

Josh was a friend of my husband's in highschool.  They Bible quizzed against each other, spent summers atcamp up at the area where my in-laws cottage still is, and kept in touch through their mutual ministry contacts in college.  The first trip my husband and I took when we were first dating was to a Michael W Smith concert near where Josh lived and we spent the weekend with his family.

Sunday night Josh crashed a recently donated plane while testing it for the Steve Saint Ministry.  He had worked as an airplane mechanic and pilot for 3-4 years before joining the ministry, and apparently realized something was wrong just after taking off, but could not make it back to the runway safely.

Prayers for Josh's family would be appreciated.

Article

Weekend Workout Recap and some Food Related Ramblings

So, this thing has been my best friend this week it seems. 2 hours worth of running later, I'm proud to say I made my goal of 10 miles and then some! 10.4 miles to be exact!  On average, that makes for an 11.54 minute mile, though I know those numbers are off because my best run was 3.3 in 30 minutes.  I'm not necessarily worried about the speed, but I'm keep track for the sake of knowing my consistency. I'm thinking I may try to get out on the road in a couple of weeks and see what difference it makes.  5k's down here will not be happening for me during the summer months, which start in mid May, but come next fall, the idea is tempting.

Measurements wise, I'm already down to my goal in the hips thighs and butt areas, but my waist just doesn't want to come.  I kept with the crunches last week and actually went up, so the crunches have to go!  The middle of my abs are actually protruding further than before because of a little bit of definition, so, maybe on Monday I'll go figure out how to use one of the ab machines, if not, I may just have to run even more than the 12 planned miles, either that or eat less, and that's not high on my list!

I'm very much an "everything in moderation" kind of girl. I like my butter, bacon, red meat, bread, chocolate, and my theory is as long as nothing is in excess, it's okay. I'd rather eat smaller portions of natural, full fat foods than bigger portions of chemically altered to be lower in fat or sugar foods.  Just my logic, and what my body likes, as I've discovered Splenda and I just don't get along, I can't get sugar free things to sit well on my stomach, so real sugar it is! Raw sugar in my coffee, but standard granulated sugar for baking, mostly for budget reasons, they tend to make it difficult to buy healthy on a budget, so I just moderate how much we use.

Definitely the right fit!

Every other Wednesday evening, for about 2 hours, the ladies from our couples Sunday School class meet here to talk and fellowship-

That should have been my first sign that we'd found the right class. :)

Dinner with new friends

So, we've only been in Houston 2 months now, and we're finally getting to entertain some friends! I'm so excited!  I've been menu planning all week, even before I invited anyone, and now it's finally the big day!

We've got these-

and that amazing pink fruit dip I still have to mix up, as appetizers.

Amber's bringing a salad.














For the main course we're having-

 Barbeque Chicken and Macaroni and Cheese








Followed by this-

for dessert-Boston Creme Cake!

And I made a few of these

to keep on hand for if we visit or play games long enough that anyone gets hungry again. :)

Weekly Workout Recap

I so need to post more often!!!

So, it's been a week, and my workout recap is-

7.4 Miles
250 crunches (I got called in to work one morning)
30 reps each arm (can't find my free weights, think I may not have packed them somewhere I have access to, so missed my first two days looking for them)

Not bad for only the second week of a workout routine.

I'm realizing an inch everywhere wouldn't be a good thing, (I can't afford to lose any on my top half if you know what I mean) but right now, I'm down-
1/2" each thigh
1/2" hips/butt area
1/4" waist

The goal is 1" thighs, hips and butt, 1 1/2" waist.

So, I need some more waist whittling exercises! Tips, advice and links appreciated!

Weekend Recap, also known as "Rambling"

So not sure what all happened this week.  It was kind of a blur.  We're trying to really hard to pay off all of our bills, but more keep appearing out of no where, hours are not great this week for my husband, or at least not very good tips for the hours he works.  He's working as a caddy at a high end country club, and a typical tip is anywhere from $60-$200 dollars per round of golf. Lately, he keeps getting the $60 and $80 tippers, part of him having to earn his place as the new guy, so it kind of stinks.  He is getting asked to do more loops (rounds of golf) and caddy for more special events, which is good, but the veteran guys keep taking all the good loops. One switched with him yesterday, and instead of caddying for five members (guaranteed $100) he got stuck with two guys, who tipped him $50. So, he was in a pretty miserable mood. Pray for encouragement for him right now.  He's kind of feeling inadequate and I'm probably not helping much because I'm really stressed about the money stuff and he sees that and feels like it's his fault.  He's earning decent money, but it's not always consistent, plus, his first bag fees paycheck just paid for his uniform and equipment, so he hasn't brought home a real check yet, so he's hating that.  I keep getting more and more hours at work, which is wonderful, my job just doesn't pay nearly what I made teaching. Finding students would be a huge help about now!

On a plus side, I'm getting in shape again!  I'm discovering I was behind alot more than I thought, so I'm really having to work back into my running.  I did 3 1/2 miles last week, 5 this week, I'm shooting for 7 next week, 10 the week after, 12 the week after that, and then plan on leveling off at around 15 miles a week, split into 3-5 runs depending on my schedule at work.  I used to run 15 miles a week, 3 miles a day, 5 days a week from the time I was 16 to 20, but then work got in the way, so, now I'm trying to get back into it.  After I run, for every mile I run I do 50 crunches.  I need to get new free weights for at home (mine got left in NY) for adding in 10 reps each arm per mile as well, either that, or use the ones at the gym.  Ideally, all this working out will shave an inch off everywhere.  I don't want to drop an entire size, (it's hard to find my little sizes sometimes anyway!) and I'm not worried about the pounds, I expect to actually go up in that area, I just want to tone everything so my clothes fit a bit looser.  I still fit in the same size I did when I got married, some things are just snugger than I'd like them to be and I'm border line going up a size, so I'd like to be on the small end of my size again and stay that way.

I'm planning to log my miles, crunches, and arm reps weekly, I just need to find some form of ticker so I can post it on here, either that, or I'll just do a weekly workout recap on Saturdays.

So, this weeks log-

Miles- 5
Crunches- 250
Arm Reps- 0 (need to figure out a system for weights)

We have a wedding to go to June 19th, so I'm shooting for a June 1st of being down an inch all the way around.

I'd post my measurements, but I think that's a bit personal, so I'll just post when I lose 1/2 inches.

I guess that's it for now, back to laundry, then the grocery store, then maybe some tanning before work this afternoon.

What's the point?

So this morning I colored my hair, went to the gym, ran 2 miles on the elliptical, then did  60 crunches at home, took a shower and ran some errands with my dad.  Fairly productive, right?

Then, we stopped at Cinnabon on the way home, and I ate one of these-

For lunch.

Then when my husband got home he wanted this-

For his lunch, which of course I had to have a bite of.


Then for dinner I made this-

Back to the Gym in the morning I go! Normally it's every other day, this week, I'm going to need a few extra days, from today's eating alone! Especially since today was 81, and I laid out tanning in the back yard (inside the privacy fence of course) and felt like I needed to suck in my stomach the entire time, just for my own peace of mind.  Tomorrow will be a better day!

Sunday thoughts

The Blue Sky and Sunshine out our Den Window

Two quotes from church this morning....

From Sunday School/Lifegroup-

"Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me"

Sermon-

"The cross shouldn't just be a symbol of a religion, but of a relationship"

Now I'm off to find something to do outside on this beautiful sunny, Sunday afternoon. :)

Whine Warning

So I'm probably going to start making people mad at me, but I don't have enough stuff to do, literally.

I'm only working about 18 hours a week.  We don't have our own place, so I only have two rooms and a bathroom I have to take care of.  I only have to cook once or twice a week because other nights everyone's working or my mom cooks for everyone.  I'm meeting with one new student tonight, but as of right now, that's all I have.  We got involved in a couples Sunday school class, but outside of class they only really have every other week to monthly social things.  My husband is just starting to get on the schedule for work, so he's home 4 days a week and bored out of his mind.  Because of the lack of work, there's a major lack of funds, so I can't really pick up a new hobby, or go shopping, or do much.  Because of the nice yellow coating of pollen torturing the area I'm finding it difficult to work out, even indoors, as sneezing while doing almost any form of exercise makes it impossible to breathe, not to mention makes you feel like you're going faceplant while running on an incline!

I need more to do. More work, more housework, more ministry, just more.....

Contentment seems to be the lesson of the month, I just seem to be a slow learner.

Yes, today I'm in a whiny mood of discontentment, I'm working on it, but rather than make my husband feel bad about everything he wants more of too, I'm whining on here, instead of to him, sorry, but I don't have to live with my readers, if you're annoyed it's not so painful.

What do you think?

Is it a good thing when your new boss, of 2 1/2 weeks, keeps giving you extra hours and switching you with other people so you're there when they have the most people in the store?

Of course since I have to buy at least one dress by tomorrow night, as we're focusing on dresses in the store for the next week and I can't just wear the same two over and over again, for 6 shifts (could, but won't) the extra hours are quite helpful!

Happy Birthday to me

So today is my birthday, not that I want any hype made of it, because seriously, I don't, I hate making a big deal of it, but it is a somewhat big one.  I hit my quarter century today.....

We celebrated by opening a new checking account, paying bills, running errands, and so forth.... Don't you just love being a responsible adult?

My husband got me one of my favorite old classic movies....

 

And we got my mom to take a few new pictures of us. I'm still a little nervous about posting pictures of us after my last blog, but I really want to share, because I like the way they came out, but still, okay, maybe one, shrunk really tiny....

And now we're going out to dinner at a Texas Steakhouse, so I've got to run, and enjoy, and get over my online stalker freak phobias someday.

Treadmills, Taco Dip, Tanning and the Remains of a Raspberry Bundt Cake

So this morning I actually got to run in a fun way! The last few times I've gone to the gym the track (1/8 mile indoor) is always full of really old people walking, in groups, two and three across and sometimes using walkers.  Do you know how hard it is to keep any kind of decent or even pace when you're weaving in and out around 80 year olds? Not fun! So, last week I tried the treadmill, kind of, (and by kind of, I mean massively!) hated it! I ran for what felt like 4 hours, looked down at the counter thing and discovered it had only been 14 minutes.  I used to take hour runs all the time (7 years ago) and 30 minute runs have never been a problem, I usually stop there due to lack of time, not energy and motivation.  So, basically, treadmills are out, two runs like that and I gave up, pathetic I know.  So, Tuesday I went to the gym and tried an elliptical instead, as all the treadmills were taken and the walker trio (what I refer to the three little old ladies who always come together) were on the track.

Let's just say, it was amazing!  I started the resistance kind of low and did one song on my Ipod with the forward motion, one song backwards, and repeated to 2 miles.  It was amazing! I went back today and the results were the same. I'm so doing that from now on, maybe only every two or three days though as I can already feel the tops of my thighs from the backwards, but, if it can burn that much 2 hours later it must be doing something.  The nice thing was, my heart rate didn't even get up all that high for me, like 135, which I don't really feel that much.

So, I rewarded myself with some of this...

(Taco Dip)

For lunch today.  And then I'm going to go lay out in this....

And get some sun.


And maybe, if I decide to treat myself, I'll eat some of this....

(Raspberry Bundt Cake)

Before work tonight as a reward.  Don't worry, that's not my piece, that's all that's left from making it Wednesday night.

Taco Dip Recipe-
1 Block 1/3 Fat or Fat Free Cream Cheese
1 Can Hormel Fat Free Turkey Chili with Beans
1 8oz Bag Shredded Taco/Mexican Blend Cheese

Soften Cream Cheese in Microwave for one minute in the bottom of a glass pie pan.  Spread evenly. Cover in can of Chili and Shredded Cheese. Microwave another 4-5 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.  Serve with Tortilla Chips.

Raspberry Bundt Cake Recipe-
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick Softened Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Vanilla Coffee Creamer
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Brown Sugar
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
2 Containers (little plastic, half pints?) Raspberries.

Preheat Oven to 350. Generously grease and flour Bundt cake pan.
Beat first five ingredients.  Fold in Sugar and Spices.  Fold in half of the raspberries.  Pour into greased pan.  Cover batter with remaining raspberries and push into batter with spatula.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until it passed the "toothpick test".  Let cool 10 minutes, flip out of pan and let cool on plate or wire rack for an hour to drizzle with frosting, or sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately.

Enjoy!

While my

Duke Blue Devils are #1 in their region for the NCAA March Madness Tournament

The 

North Carolina Tarheels didn't even make the big tournament!

And I couldn't be happier!!!

Anyone who wants in on my husband and mine's brackets this year just shoot me an email or leave a comment in the next 24 hours, brackets have to be done by end of tomorrow.