I do suck at updating, though. So here are the salient points about the last 10 weeks or so.

• Steve still doesn't have a job. It sucks, but at least he gets unemployment, which is something. He had me help him with his resume the other day, so that was fun. I remain hopeful, but it's hard.
• Doing crazy amounts of work on the yard. We dug so much today that my back and wrists are killing me. But it's a...good kind of pain? Still much more to do, but it's a worthwhile endeavor, and it's a nice activity that we can all do together (Steve, me, and our friends & duplex buddies Nica and Del).
• Lots of grillin' and Rock Band nights lately. When you can't afford to go out, you grill. And, heck, we never went out much anyway, so no big.
• We've been having lots of fundraisers for Relay for Life. Bingo Night brought in $1000, Penny Wars made over $1100, bake sale and chili cook-off both raked in the dough. Next week I get to go panhandle for charity. It's called "Curbing Cancer," and I wouldn't call it fun, but it's effective. And we're all dressing like fairies, so that'll be something.
• My sister found out she's having a boy (due September 3rd), so now I can start shopping for boy stuff.
• Guys, my zucchini plants are HUMONGOUS!
• Okay, my back really hurts, and I can no longer sit in this chair.

Steve got laid off today. His last day is next Thursday. He has 2 weeks of vacation that he'll get paid for, and then it'll be unemployment until he finds something else. After 9 years with the company, they laid him off and kept a guy who builds at approximately 1/10th the speed Steve does and has been banned from several of the stores they service (various reasons). There is pretty much no way the guy they kept will be able to keep up with their current contracts, so they're either going to have to move someone in from a different area, or hire someone completely new, who will also never be able to do Steve's job.

All unfairness aside, I am fairly terrified about this. The job market being what it is - and unemployment is extremely high in Oregon all the time anyway - there are not a lot of prospects for someone with no college and rather limited and specific experience. And at this point, he's just angry and down on himself and doesn't want to talk about it. He's already applied for like 3 jobs today, but he's not very optimistic, and, frankly, that's realistic in this economy.

So, yeah. I don't really know what we're going to do if he doesn't find another job soon. We have no savings, and although we live within our means, we don't live within MY means alone. Kind of frightening. :( And I just spent $600 on a plane ticket to visit my family in a couple weeks. I may have to hit them up for donations...

Nothing is going on in my life. Dude, nuthin'.

I tried to think of something interesting to post, but there isn't anything interesting going on. Well, aside from the fact that I seem to be on self-destruct this week. Not mentally, either. On Monday I totally overdid myself doing lunges with hand weights (I haven't done lunges in probably 15 years, and even then it was never with weights) so could barely walk the next 2 days. Tuesday still did the elliptical without incident and did weights again Wednesday but NOT the lunges.

Anyway, more gym stuff, yada yada. Oh, but also on Wednesday, I tried to get myself crushed under a pile of pressed wood countertops and ended up with a giant bruise on my left thigh, and then Friday I pulled a muscle in my right thigh, so for the last two days I've been hobbling around like an old lady. My pulled muscle is waaaaay better today, though, so it wasn't as bad as I feared. I think lunges are still going to have to wait another week, but I should be able to do other stuff in the gym this week, which is good because we just added a day and changed the workout routine, and I'm hopeful that this will result in more weight loss. If I can stop eating bagels obsessively. Which I can after I eat the last one in the package, because then I just won't buy any more. Haven't I learned by now that bagels are one of my major weaknesses? Sheesh.

Okay, I think pulled muscles and bagel obsession is enough information for one post, don't you?

Poetry meme
Here's a meme, from </a></b></a>bellatemple:

When you see this post, post your favorite poem.


( What Lips My Lips Have Kissed )

This was on my actual website, so I won't reinvent the wheel. I'll just link to the wheel. Wheel!

Meme borrowed from cah215 b/c I don't have anything in particular to say. I reserve the right to delete any questions I think are stupid or boring.



( Read more... )</div>

My 3-year-old niece Abby has started proclaiming, "They call me Jesus." Nobody knows where she came up with this, but it cracks me up. Blasphemous though it may be. I mean, she's three. I think God will forgive her, though who knows what the Sunday School teacher thinks.

I just got a picture text from my youngest sister, showing two positive pregnancy tests. I'm happy for her, but already I'm anticipating some emotional fallout.

Here's where I make admissions and you find out just how selfish and horrid I am. Just so ya know what's coming.

( Read more... )

Bobblehead Dwight escorted some friends and me around town on New Year's Eve. This is a photographic account of his travels, with commentary.

( See Dwight's journey )

I made a miraculous recovery from my illness, just in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, illness was one of my major Christmas gifts to Steve. Poor kid is miserable. He started getting the sore throat on Christmas Eve, and yesterday and today has been just pitiful with the head and chest congestion. He's got it even worse than I did, I'm afraid. Or maybe he's just whinier...hard to say for sure, but he sounds terrible. :(

On Friday, I took the afternoon off to go shopping. Crazy, yes, but necessary because I had no pants. Well, very few pants. I needed work clothes bad. But I only had to go to one store and got awesome deals, so it's all good. Today I went to lunch with Robin and then we cruised many stores to see what they had to offer. I got some really cute votive holders at Pottery Barn that were on sale for $3 each. Mostly we just browsed and mocked, which are two of my favorite things to do.

I'm going to go get a haircut tomorrow, as my hair is getting long-ish again, and I can't do anything with it. I think I'm going to go even shorter than last time, so it's entirely possible I may come home crying. Actually, the crying part is very unlikely, as I don't really possess that feature. But I could be sorely disappointed, in which case I'll just rely on my extensive hat collection for the next few weeks. Still, I have to take the risk, on the off chance it could turn out super cute. :)