Can we say 'stress'?

1. I think we need to start praying to St. Joseph for some intercession on the house hunting. He is the patron saint of house hunting, so... yeah!

2. I'm not quite sure how my body is handling all this stress right now. I don't feel overly stressed, but I'm sure it is taking its tole on me. I have barely been getting any sleep because nightly I wake up coughing at least once for 2 hours. Two nights ago I think I got two hours of sleep, after waking of 5 separate times. So not much sleep. Next is that I'm pretty darn busy: I'm looking for a job, looking for a house (which takes up way more time than I thought it would), planning a wedding, trying to keep in contact with people, watching my bank account go down because of Christmas presents, and trying to stay healthy too. I have been out of work for a month now, and I haven't received one call or email or reply whatsoever about any job I've applied to. So that's encouraging... So add that worrying to all of this, and I just don't know when or what day I'm finally going to snap, whether it's mentally or by way of getting sick. I figure my body can only handle so much. The only plus in this is that I'm NOT at work, thus not exposed to as many germs.

Crazy house hunting

So Jarrod and I found a house that we both really liked. It met all of the things we wanted in a house and was in a great location in Wentzville, not to mention at a great price. It had a nice sized master bedroom and bathroom, double sinks, a good yard, a nice big kitchen with tons of counter space, a great open floor plan, and just plenty of room overall. The miraculous thing about the great price, too, what that this house was not a foreclosure or even a short sale. The folks trying to sell it just needed to get out from under it and were trying to sell it for cheap.

We first looked at it on Friday, decided we wanted to take our parents through on Saturday, so we all met there at 9am that morning. Everyone liked it, which was wonderful. We decided we wanted to put a contract on it that day, so we hung around in Wentzville while our realtor showed another house. Then we went over to her office in O'Fallon and wrote up the contract. The only thing we were waiting on with this house was the sellers disclosures, which was worded into the contract so if anything was terribly wrong, we would have the ability to back out (since it was being sold as is.) We finished up around 1:30 or so and came back here, since Jarrod's car was parked here.

So, around 2:30 or so we got a call from our realtor saying she had received the sellers disclosures and emailed them to us. She wanted us to look it over and let her know what we wanted to do; she had not yet sent our contract over since these were faxed to her right away. I was doing a neb and reading them on my laptop while Jarrod read them over at my computer. As I kept reading it, I got this sinking feeling in my stomach. I'm not kidding you, every section of this thing had something wrong with it. There were problems with the plumbing; the kitchen appliances; the furnace supposedly turned on and off randomly and there weren't parts available to fix it; water got in the basement because the gutters didn't drain properly; he suspected movement in the house. A moving house is never a good situation. Also on this thing he wrote that a sewage pipe under the basement floor was cracked and sometimes backed up and that a PVC pipe in the wall of the house had been damaged due to movement. Oh, and he suspected termites. We were (or at least I was) stunned that it had this many problems. The house was fairly clean and in really good condition, it hadn't been totally neglected, so it was hard to believe that much was wrong underneath it all.

This house was so perfect for us, except everything was wrong with it. We shared the disclosures with dad, who kept saying "Oh boy..." as he read it, and unanimously decided we didn't want to put a contract on the house any more.

It was such a long day, I was so exhausted from it all. Here we were excited we had found the perfect house at a great price, only to have our hopes dashed a couple hours later once we found out all that was wrong with the house. I just wish we would have had these disclosures sooner because then we wouldn't have wasted our time. I was definitely disappointed, but I've moved on. If it wasn't the right one, then it just wasn't the right one.

"Going Green" is not new

I love old things, and especially if they are semi-old things from my childhood.

For a few years now (really, I don't think it's been much more than that, and I feel last year was the worst ever for "green" marketing) our society has been bombarded by "green" messages of saving our planet because, guess what, we're polluting it and that can't go on forever. But the funny thing many people forgot is: this is not a new idea.

Enter Exhibit A. My bookmark. I have an old little paper bookmark from [at the very least] 15 years ago. I believe I got it one time because of a book order in grade school. Anyways, I love this bookmark and keep it because it is 1, cute, and 2, about the earth. The front has a cute little illustration of a smiling earth and it says "Save the Earth", followed by the illustration of the earth, and "It's the only one we've got." at the bottom in what looks to be either Century Gothic or Avant Garde type. Then (ready for the best part?!) the back has 5 tips to saving our earth. They read;

1. Avoid "disposable" products that are used once, then thrown away.
2. Recycle. Reuse things if possible. Before you throw away games, books, or clothes, remember someone else might like them.
3. Organize a clean-up committee for a littered park or street in your community.
4. Encourage your friends and family to be more Earth-conscious. Then set an example yourself.
5. Read all about it. The more you know about the environment, the more you'll realize why it's important to save it.

Funny how those same things still ring true today, yet now they are shoved down our throats, sadly. I also really like how the first tip addresses "disposable" products. This bookmark is from the days before bottled water, mind you. How times have changed... Well, the message hasn't changed, but our habits have changed for the worse.

Happy birthday

Today is the 41st birthday of my beloved childhood television program: Sesame Street. Therefore, most of the morning I have been whisked away to a much simpler time watching old clips. Enjoy. (If you're having trouble loading them, try quitting your browser and starting over.)



















Kids just don't know what they're missing these days...

Read a book!

Hanging out with my good friend Marie is always a ton of fun. But along with the fun, many times we find ourselves deep in conversation about very serious topics. Frequent topics include the demise of the world due to facebook, the yearning for a simpler life, stereotypes, and a plethora of other things effecting the world right now and how saddened we are by them.

I feel that the mark of a good conversation/debate is if you get something out of it. When a person is talking about deep issues such as these, there should be a little bit of introspection with it. How does this apply to me? How can I change? How do I feel about this?

Hopefully this is making sense, and if not hopefully I'll clear it up in this paragraph. Today we were talking about facebook, a semi-frequent pondering, and how we both wish we could either: 1, lessen our time on there, or 2, drop facebook completely. It is clear that facebook has become a sort of addiction for both of us, though we are by no means the worst at fault for this. I know for certain that there are many, many, many people in the world who are on it more than we are. But the reason we feel it has an 'addiction' sort of status is because of all the time wasted on there. Here's the scenario: I log on, just to check if any numbers are at the top of my page basically.


I only intend to be on there for a harmless minute, right? So I check. And then, I click on someone. One minute has turned into 5, then 15, then 30. And before you know it, it's 2:00 in the afternoon! What happened to all that time? I compare this facebook addiction, in a way, to drinking. A person wants JUST ONE drink. Then that turns into two. Then three. Then four. And before you know it, they are drunk. Same with facebook. You intend to only be there for a minute; you just want that one little sip, that one drink of information on everyone. And before you know it, an hour has gone by.

So, here comes the introspection part! Stay with me here...

I myself feel I have not been reading as much as I used to, and this really saddens me. I love to read. I love getting lost in a good book. But I have not been doing this a whole lot lately and I realized why: my laptop. Ever since I got my laptop back up and running with Ubuntu, I have been using it a lot more. Typically in the past, I would read while I was doing my vest. With two vest sessions a day, that would equal an hour of reading every day, which is pretty darn good for most people. But now, I keep my laptop by my vest, too, and more times than not I will pick up the laptop, play a game, or check all my anti-social network stuff and before I know it, I am on my last vest setting with 2 minutes left. I can't read now! There's no more time, I think to myself. Once again, time has passed and another opportunity for me to spend some good family time with my books is lost.

So, even though writing this blog is taking some time, haha, I intend to read tonight while I vest. I am so glad we had this conversation because it made me more aware as to WHY I am not reading as much. Hopefully I can turn things around and my books will be back in my hands more!

Turn! Turn! Turn!

I am reminded of so many quotes and songs this evening that apply to my situation in life at the moment.

First is the title, the song popularized by the Byrds. You know the song, "To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn) and a time to every purpose under heaven." It's based on a verse in Ecclesiastes, and what I'm taking away from it tonight is that a time in my life has ended. [And if you wanna hear this great song, you can click here.]

I have been laid off from my job. It was quite a blow, honestly; I was not expecting it at all. I was offered a contract position, but I declined it because I was not interested in doing contract work for them. At first, I was very emotional. I went back to my desk after the meeting, sat down, realized I had to pack up my things, and then left because I was on the verge of breaking down. I tried to call Jarrod and tell him the news, but he wasn't answering. I left the bathroom, after splashing my face with some water, and returned to start packing up my things. I then cried a little more, but was trying to not make a scene. My coworker heard me and asked if I was okay. After composing myself for a brief moment, I shared the news that I was not going to be there on Monday. I noticed Jarrod had tried to call, so I left to call him back, and the news was obviously not what he wanted to hear either. I finished packing up and left, after saying goodbye to my three friends there. That was tough.

I read over the contract they offered me, made my decision, and went by today to tell them I was declining.  I think that the HR lady was half surprised, half not.

But in talking with my friend just now, and reading a couple blogs, I am starting to truly see the good side to all this. She also shared this wonderful quote: "God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes, and prospects when He is about to give us the desires of our hearts." -John Newton. Earlier today after I talked with HR and told them I was declining, I had a nervous knot in my stomach for a while. I wondered 'Did I do the right thing?' Now, I am happy to say that has subsided. I now feel that this was God's little nudge for me to move on. If this wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't have quit. I was just going to keep chuggin' along like everything was fine, when in reality I knew that I needed to get out. I knew that I had no potential there; I knew I was barely tapping into my creativity; I knew I was unhappy.

But now that I'm free, I have hope. I feel that with some prayers, I have bigger and better things on my horizon. I know that sometime soon (maybe not as soon as I would like) I will find a decent job.

Where would I be if I didn't have any sort of belief in God? I would be an unhappy, unemployed crab apple. But instead, I have hope for better things. "Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead!"--I Peter 1:6