Back to Work...

I went back to work this Monday after being laid off for 3 weeks. I was glad to go back because I sure missed my check but I also had gotten used to being off and piddling and getting things accomplished. I had made a list for myself before I got laid off of things I wanted to accomplish while I was off. 21 things, 21 days. I think I accomplished 12 or 13 of them. Not too bad. I am slowly working on the last 8 or 9 things but some of them take lots of time (organizing ALL of our pictures into albums or onto CDs)

Work greeted me early with a phone call Friday night. It was my building manager calling to let me know that I ws being moved to a different department. My job title would still be the same but instead of being in her department (BPF), I would now be in Fuel. Just in case you don't know what NFS does, click here. Now, instead of going back to 3rd shift like I had hoped, I will go through a long training session on dayshift. After that, I will continue to train for my job on the floor on dayshift. The bad news is....once I complete my training, I will be going to 2nd shift. YUCK! We are a union so shift preference is determined by seniority. I have only been there a little over a year and I cannot "hold" 3rd shift on Fuel. I could in BPF but Fuel is different.

I am grateful to have a job but I am going to miss my friends in BPF and 3rd shift. "They" (whoever that may be) have said that they hope to get us (me and 2 others) back to BPF when we are ready to run again (our area is shut down for re-engineering) but with as much training, time and money that goes into this, I doubt we will get moved back. Oh well, I have never had a desire to work 2nd shift but we will give it a go and see how it works for me. I just keep telling myself that this isn't permanent and I am almost done with my classes. Greater things are yet to come for this chica!

Haiti $!

Yesterday was our big collection Sunday for our Haiti offering. We showed a quick slide show and took up an offering after the service was over. They counted it for us really quick and we were hoping for at least $10,000. We didn't get $10,000 but that's ok....we over $13,500!!!!! God is so good! We are also matching $ for $ what the community contributes but as of right now, they have only sent in $300. If anyone would like to donate to this worthy cause (all the money goes through IDES), we are continuing to take money to send. Contact me or the church and let us know that you would like to help Haiti and we will let you know who, what, and how. Thanks so much for all the prayers and the donations!

Excuse me...how much?

Our poor dog has some serious issues with her ears. Summer 2008 she started digging and scratching them so much that they became extemely infected. We took her to the vet and $200 and my heart attack later, they cleared up. She took her antibiotics and we put the cream and everything else in them. Fast forward to summer 2009...the digging and scratching begin AGAIN. We clean them, put cream in them, put her flea medicine on her, clean and BLEACH her pen, and everything else we could do to help kill whatever it is. Bless her heart, nothing helped. I finally took her to the vet yesterday. Once again, they gave me the same antibiotics (more because she has gained 11 pounds!!!), a different cream and instructions to bring her back in 2 weeks because it might not be bugs....it might be a FOOD ALLERGY!!!

Well, if you know us at all, we do not spend a million dollars on our pets. They are ANIMALS! I love my dog and I will do anything to prevent something from happening to her but I will not buy kangaroo based food products from the vet. Sorry but I won't. If she is allergic to beef, I will head down to the river, catch as many fish as I can and make her fish for dinner. If it's chicken she is allergic to, I will cook pork, beef or whatever else to make her happy but I will not spend that much money on my dog. They said that if she bites at her rump, which she does, that it is more than likely she has an allergy. When I take her back in 2 weeks which is probably going to cost me another $200 just to walk in the door, they will take another sample of her ears and see if we have killed the source of the problem. If not, we will begin a strict new diet. We will try fish first, we have some dented cans of tuna, some old frozen shrimp and a river full of trout. It seems to me to be the cheapest route. If that doesn't work then we will try something else.

The worst part about all this is that if she is allergic to something, she cannot even have a Milkbone while we test her. She takes her heartworm pill with peanut butter and gets a piece of cheese when she does something good or just because. I don't know if we will have to cut those out too. Anyway, I hope that it is jsut bugs and we can eliminate the problem with medicine and a good scrubbing.

Might I add, that she fell in love with a 6 week old Rottie when we were there yesterday? It whined and cried and she just sat there watching it and whining because she wanted to play. Apparently, the man with the dog was slightly intimidated by my whiny, 74 pound German Shepherd so he wouldn't put his dog down. Oh well, his loss.

Hope for Haiti!

If you have 2 extra minutes that you can take to read this short post and click on the link, please do so. My church, First Christian Church in Erwin, TN, is participating in a $ for $ matching challenge to bring funds to the people of Haiti! As you know, they were affected by a large earthquake on January 12th. Please click on this link to read how you can get involved. It will only take 2 minutes, I promise. Thank you so much!

In 2010 I will...*sigh*

Seth went back to school last Thursday but being the amazing wonderful husband that he is, he kindly cleaned out our "junk room" before he went back. Don't judge, I know you all have one :) He wanted me to help but I told him that "if I try to go through all that stuff, I will find an excuse to keep it." He knows me so he went through it first.

By the time I got home from work that day, he had a box of stuff for me to go through and a pile ready for the trash and a pile ready for Goodwill. It's unreal how much STUFF two people can accumulate (FYI: it wasn't ALL mine). Anyway, I went through the box, kept about 10 items out of it, and put the rest in the Goodwill box and kept a few items to sell on Ebay or at a yard sale (they still had the tags on them). The next day, we took the boxes to Goodwill and dropped them off and went by the dump and trashed all the "trash". The room looks completely different now and we can actually leave the door open when people come over. All that leads me to my typical yet probably unachievable "resolutions". Why do I do this to myself?

In 2010 I will...

* Keep the room Seth worked so hard on clean and organized

* Organize all my scrapbook stuff and keep my desk free of clutter (let's see how long that lasts)

* Keep all of my school books and papers together and in order

* Do all schoolwork ahead of time so I don't panic the night before

* Keep all church bookwork organized and on time

* Stop eating out so much...

* Therefore, I will cook more often

* Lose 25 pounds before June (6 down as of today)

* Get exercise on a regular basis (no, apparently once a month is not regularly enough)

* In general, I will use my spare time to accomplish productive things

* Not wear laundry from the basket. I will put clothes away when they are dry

* Eat yogurt at least 5 times a week and take my multi-vitamin everyday

Once again, chances are I won't do ALL these things but if I don't try I am not any better off. Maybe if I can just make myself do them until May or so, it will just become habit. Cross your fingers for me. Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! With the exception of being a few days late, I guess that is not too bad for an update :)

Some of the highlights of 2009 consist of:

Seth starting his last year of school!

Katie deciding to go BACK to school (one semester down, 2 to go)

Celebrating our one year anniversary! It has flown by

Seth joining First Christian Church (where Katie has been a member since birth) and rededicating his life

Discovering the state of TN was willing to pay for Seth's last year of school!

Our church going to a full-time blended service (contemporary and traditional)

Katie got a Cricut (Google it if you don't know) and went WILD at Christmas

We got a Wii!!!! Katie's first video game ever!

We got to go to Dollywood 3 times this year!

We also had some not so wonderful moments in 2009:

Katie received a chemical burn at work

Seth had surgery on his ankle (again) in August

Seth lost both his grandmothers in September and December

We hope 2010 will be wonderful year with new opportunities to grow and learn new things. Seth will be on the hunt for a job very soon and has already started updating his resume. Hopefully by graduation, he will have secured a job. Katie is currently starting her last semester of "classwork" with the hope of student teaching in the fall. We have been so blessed this last year and we hope that you have also.

Happy New Year!

Winter Break 2009

Today is my fourth day off and we have already done so much.

Saturday, despite 8 inches of snow and no power in some places, we wnt to a wedding. Not too bad until you find out that this was an OUTDOOR wedding! Yes folks, this lovely family hosted a wedding at their home, outside, on generators. The wedding was beautiful and we were actually quite warm in the tents. They had the big white tents set up with Christmas lights running all over. Our place setting cards were stuck in pinecones that were hanging on Christmas trees. The favors (which were wrapped in the prettiest paper) were boxes of white hot chocolate. They had evergreens behind them during the ceremony, a HUGE wooden cross standing at the front and a million candles! The programs each had a piece of black ribbon tied on them with a sprig of pine needles. The food was TO DIE FOR! Prime rib, asian something salmon, and little chicken rolls with spinach, tomato and feta. They had about 8 groom's pies to choose from, wedding cake and 2-3 more cakes. It was amazing!

Sunday morning, we had no church so we slept in until 10:30. That was really nice. After we got ready, we ran to Johnson City to pick up some last minute gifts and to take some "Santa" tags to Seth's sister for her boys (because you know Santa makes all his tags for each child). We picked up a Papa John's pizza for lunch and went home. Seth stopped and rented me Four Christmases with Vince Vaughan and Reese Witherspoon (pretty funny). After we got home, we watched our movie and ate pizza. We had to watch the movie on the laptop because we have difficulty with our DVD player. Our first one went out so a friend gave us one of hers. It didn't work either so my mom gave us one she had bought and never used. It doesn't work either! So, we watched it on the computer and shared a pair of headphones(the fan on the woodstove is LOUD). After lunch I wrapped, made tags, wrapped some more, made more tags and on and on.

Monday was movie day for Seth. He has about 4-5 movies he wanted to watch that I refuse to watch because I just don't want to. We got up early, went to the Walmart to get a few groceries, stopped at McDonald's and got breakfast and went to the video store. He got 2 and I got one (it was $1 day). He started watching his as soon as we got home and I called my mom to see if she wanted to run to the mall with me. She was already there so I met her there. I finished all my shopping, had a tasty lunch and spent some time with my mom. She got all her shopping done too so now all we have left is WRAPPING!!! Seth helped me wrap most of our gifts that night so I am free to help my mom.

Today I am going to WalMart to get stocking stuff and a few things that I could not get until today. After that, we are going to visit Seth's grandmother in the nursing home and then we have P and W practice at 2ish. After practice, my mother and I are going to wrap and bake pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies. Then, my sister and BIL will be here. Tomorrow we are all going to Dollywood to see the lights and then Thursday is Christmas Eve! This week has already flown by and it's not even half over yet.