mary

We spent the morning just veggin’.  We were going to go up to Amish country and drive around, maybe go through some of the shops, but just after we left it started raining so we decided to put that off til tomorrow.  Instead we went to Sam’s.  We spent more than an hour walking around in there, but didn’t buy much.

And it’s a good thing we put our drive off.  It’s stormy here.  Just had a thunderstorm pass through with pea sized hail.  And there are some rough looking clouds heading this way.  The rain’s started back up and it’s getting very dark out there.

Haven’t eaten much today, but I’m reheating the leftover chili and we’re going to have that for dinner.  But I have been drinking my water…gotta get that water in!!!  Guess I could just go out in the yard and stand there looking up with my mouth open!  I’d get plenty of water that way if I didn’t drown first cuz it’s coming down in buckets!!  Yeah, I know.  The buckets would hit me in the head and knock me out…(bunch of wise guys).

Anyway, stay dry everybody.  I’m gonna.

Ready for the weekend?  Now what do I mean by that?  It’s been like the weekend all week with Micheal home every day!!!  But he can be a bit tiresome sometimes when he’s on the computer looking for jobs.  He gets aggrevated with the computer and starts talking to it.  No, let me rephrase that…he yells at it.  Actually, he doesn’t get aggrevated with the computer so much as with some of the job search engines and some of the stuff people send him.  And he’s getting a little aggrevated because he’s only gotten 2 or 3 calls about jobs.  But it’s only been a few days.  He just has very little patience.  And no, he’s not like that at work.  He’s very tolerant of things there.  He just lets the steam off when he’s home.

So, I’ve been trying to keep quiet in the background.  I’ve learned that, when he’s on the computer with job searches, I don’t interrupt him for anything.  If I’ve told him dinner will be ready in 10 minutes, it might be an hour later before he finally comes to the table.  Oh well, I guess all men have their quirks.

I’ve been drinking my water and staying within my points, if not a little under.  I just haven’t had much of an appetite this week.  I know it’s just a bit of stress, and I know I need to eat anyway, but I just haven’t wanted much of anything.  I did have a bowl of Raisin Bran and a banana for breakfast and a salad for lunch.  We’re going to have leftover chili for dinner, so I don’t have to cook tonight.  And Micheal said he’s taking me out to dinner tomorrow night.  I can handle that.

My back has been giving me trouble this week (I know…that’s probably stress, too) so I’m gonna relax this evening and take care of it.  Maybe I’ll have a bit of my liquid pain medication (margaritas) later.

I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend.

It’s been another slow day here.  I got up this morning and made waffles with reduced-fat Bisquick and used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray and Sugar-free Maple syrup on mine. Mmmmm.  Right now I have a pot of chili simmering.  I used lean ground steak and lots of beans to make it.  I think I’m gonna splurge and make a pan of cornbread to go with it, but with what I’ve eaten so far today I don’t think I’ll have to worry about going over my points, even with the cornbread.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’ll probably be leaving Fort Wayne.  We may get to stay in Indiana, but it’s a slim chance that we’ll be able to stay in the Fort.  But that’s ok.  If we have to leave here, it wasn’t meant to be.  We’ll eventually find the place where we’re supposed to be.  We know we would prefer not to go all the way back to the West Coast, nor any farther North than we are here.  And we’d rather not go down around the Gulf Coast nor the East Coast.  We’d like to stay in the central US if possible.  But we’ll go where the job takes us.  And if we have to spend some more time living in hotels, then that’s ok, too.  We can handle it.  We both know that the perfect job in the perfect place will come along.  And when it does, everything will fall into place.  And I know that wherever we go, you will all go with us.

My dear Buddies…you are the best.  You’ve ‘held my hand’ when I need you to, and allowed me to ‘cry on your shoulders’.  It doesn’t matter that we can’t physically touch because you’ve touched my heart anyway.  I love you.

Today has been blessedly uneventful, with the exception of it storming!!  But that’s ok.  We’re snug inside and staying dry and warm.  It’s supposed to get down into the 30s tomorrow night, but that’s ok, too.  That’s cuddling weather!!!

Nikki - you ask how I stay up and keep my sense of humor with all we’re going through…practice, Sweetie.  I’m a survivor.  I won’t bore with details, but I’ve been through hell a couple of times since I was little.  Sexual abuse started when I was 12 and lasted for several years and mental and emotional abuse started at the same time and lasted until I left my first husband in November of 1999.  That probably explains why I’ve had a constant struggle with weight.  They say when the chemicals in your brain get unbalanced, your weight can be affected.  And emotions can cause those chemicals to go haywire.

But, I have a much better life now that I did. before I met Micheal.  And I’ve always heard that if you go through hell here on earth you’ll definitely see Heaven when you die!!!

Ok, enough of that.  I’ve had a lazy day today.  We stayed up late watching a movie last night and with no alarm to go off this morning, I slept in.  I didn’t get up until a little after 8.  I’ve had all my water, but not much to eat…just haven’t had an appetite.  But I’m gonna eat a good dinner, just not sure what yet.

Take care, my Buddies and have a great evening.  I’ll be back!!!

Before anything else I want to thank everybody for their support.  I was overwhelmed by the response.  It helps more than you can ever know.

Next, in answer to to question “can they do that?” - Yes, they can.  Micheal was on a three-month contract-to-hire, which meant either of them could change their minds at any time.  But they had just asked Micheal just last Thursday if he was sure he was going to stay.  He said yes, that we’d already signed a 6 month lease, moved everything here from storage in North Carolina, and we’re waiting for our insurance to be transferred here from North Carolina so we can get Indiana tags and licenses.  So they knew he was committed.  So it all came out of the blue.  He met with his recruiter this morning.  He said the company decided they were going to go in another direction with the project they were working on and they wouldn’t need Micheal for that.

Well, Micheal has revamped his resume and shot it out over the internet and has already gotten a couple of responses.  He’s concentrating on an area within about 150 miles of here, but we’ll go farther if necessary.

Now for a bit of bad but funny.  Today our big TV quit.  Micheal wanted to move it from the livingroom to his office so he could open it up and check it out, but it’s one heavy sucker.  He stood in front of the entertainment system scratching his head and said he was trying to figure out how to move it.  I suggested he put his armless desk chair in front of the entertainment center facing the TV, slide the TV onto the chair then just wheel it into the office.  He said that might work…and it did.  When we got it into the office we only had to lift it 6 to 8 inches from the chair to the desk.  Now why is it that someone who is a certified genius has trouble coming up with an idea that simple?!?!?!  But I love it when I can out think him!!

Ok, down to business.  I’m doing ok with food and water.  I haven’t felt like eating today, but I did.  I made up some fat-free, sugar-free pudding yesterday and even used some to make banana pudding, so I’ve had something to snack on, along with a big bowl of grapes.

Oh, I almost forgot…Pinny!  She’s fitting in real well!  I guess I should go ahead and spill, since I’ve got everybody wondering.  Pinny is my dressmakers model!!!  Char had suggested naming her Pinhead and I just took that and named her Pinny!!!  GOTCHA!!!!!!

Well my Buddies, guess it’s a good thing we haven’t found a house yet.  Micheal’s boss (from the contracting agency) called him after he got home and told him his position has been terminated, effective immediately.  His position was a 3 month contract to hire.  The bosses there have been asking him, as recently as last Thursday, if he was sure he was going to stay.  He told them yes, that we’d signed a 6 month lease on this place and he’d already gone to North Carolina and gotten all our stuff out of storage.  He said we’ve already gotten our address changed and were waiting on our insurance to be transferred to Indiana so we could get vehicle and driver’s licenses.  Now, out of the blue, his position has been terminated…no reason, they just terminated it.

So, we don’t quite know where we’re going from here.  This was totally unexpected, so he hasn’t even had any feelers out for job.  He’d even disabled his search engines on the internet (that’s how he has always found jobs in the past).  So now we start from scratch.  If nothing else, we’ll pack everything up and move to Arkansas and stay with my Dad and put everything in storage there.

So please, just keep us in your prayers.  We can use them.

We spent most of the afternoon out house hunting.  Our style is to drive around an area looking for realtors signs or for sale by owner signs.  When we drive by, if we like the house and they have a detail sheet available at the sign, we grab one.  If not, we write down the phone number and location.  Then we can call about it.  Sunday afternoon is good too because they have a lot of open houses.

Well, I didn’t even try to stay OP today.  We went out for breakfast this morning, then went and got groceries (we were gonna do that yesterday, but my body had other ideas).  Then, after we’d spent about 4 hours driving around, and going through some houses, by the time we headed for home it was getting late, so we stopped at Sonic for dinner.  Hey, I seldom do that, so I’m not gonna worry about it.  Besides, I got new jeans last week that were a size smaller than I’d been wearing.  The scale says I haven’t lost any more weight, but my new jeans are falling off of me!!!!  I’m gonna have to get my new sewing machine out and take them up!!  So I’m not even going to worry about what that stupid scale says.  And I’m not gonna fret over having a cheeseburger and fries for dinner once in a while.

Well, it’s been a bit odd, but we’re getting used to having Pinny around.  We’re used to it just being the two of us here, so when we look over and see Pinny, it’s a bit different!!  But, we’ve welcomed her into our home, and she’s here to stay.

Now, I’m gonna kick back and watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  I love that show!!!!

We went this afternoon and did laundry (we don’t have a washer/dryer hook-up here), and boy was there a lot!!!  We haven’t done laundry in over a month!  We had all the closthes we’ve worn the past month plus a lot of stuff that was in storage.  We filled up 4 of the large washers. Believe me, I’m tired, and boy did I sweat!!!  I think I must have sweated off a few pounds cuz by the time we left the laundromat, my new, size smaller jeans were about to fall off of me!!.  And to say I’m hurting a bit would be an understatement.  But I’ll be ok.  I have a glass of Diet Dr. Pepper spiked with brandy sitting here that I’m drinking right now.  And I’ll have another when that’s gone.  So that should ease the pain a bit.

And Chinese was the leftover Chinese from last night that we just ate.  It was just as good the second night.  We had some Low Mein that had chicken, beef, pork and shrimp in it, and that was the best shrimp I’ve ever had.  It was so tender!!!!  Next time I’m just gonna order some shrimp all by itself!!  I don’t even want the sauces with it.  I just want the shrimp!  I don’t really think I went over my points with dinner cuz I slept late then just had a lite snack before going to do laundry.  So with all the sweating at the laundry I should be ok.

Well I’m gonna kick back and relax and watch a movie and rest my back.  Everybody have a great rest of the weekend.

Hey everybody…we have a new member of the family!!  Her name is Pinny!!  We just brought her home, and she’s a beauty!!

Well, I did ok eating today…until dinner.  We found a great Chinese restaurant and unfortunately I let Micheal do the ordering.  And he just kept ordering and ordering.  Actually we brought home twice as much as we ate.  But I have had all of my water plus tons of tea at the restaurant.

Now I’m ready to relax.  So I’m gonna call it a day.  Goodnight my Buddies.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Micheal and I just finished watching ”Music of the Heart”, or should I say we just finished crying through it!!  It was great.

This is my 100th posting!!!  It doesn’t seem like I’ve been on here long enough for 100 postings, but I guess I have.  I haven’t even posted every day!!  Have I really had that much to say?  I must have.  I guess it’s habit.  Dad dug out all my old report cards from school so he could show Micheal that every one of them had one particular comment…’talks too much’.  Me?  No way!!

I took lunch to Micheal at work today.  I was very good.  I picked up turkey subs at Subway.  And I’ve had all my water.  I’m getting ready to go cook dinner.  Then we’re gonna settle in and watch CSI and Deal or No Deal.  So it’s gonna be a quiet evening.