Day 310

I'm out of the office on lunch and it occurred to me that I haven't updated the blog lately.


My silence has been the result of extreme happiness and hard work. Dave, the boys and I are all happy and healthy, and we are gearing up for Christmas. I've been trying to impress upon the boys this Christmas season what the true meaning of the holiday is. It's not about what we get, but about what we have and why we have it.


But I won't deny that's difficult. With a six-year-old (and nine-year-old) in the house, visions of Santa with a bag of presents are very prominent.


We have made K-Love, a national Christian radio station, a fixture in our lives, and I heard on it yesterday that the average PERSON (not couple, family, etc.) spends $700/year on Christmas presents.  I let out an audible "phooooooo."  $700/year...  That's essentially rent for a month for us.  So here I am trying to figure out how to make Christmas great on maybe $300, and I hear that the average person spends $700.  So if you're reading this, I challenge you to remember what Christmas is really about, and try to focus on that instead.


Dave asked me over the weekend what I want for Christmas and my response (after telling him - him), was a new coffee cup.  Yes, that's all I want.  A new travel mug that doesn't leak when I try to take a sip out of it.  But I guess I never cease to surprise him.  I know he knows I'm not materialistic, but at the time of the year when most people send out mile long Christmas-lists with hundreds of dollars of ideas that they'll probably never use, I choose to be real.  And even when I stretch my brain, I can't think of anything else I want for Christmas.


We found a new church in August that we've been attending, Grace Baptist, and we love how their focus in not on what the church needs financially, but when they do talk about money, it's about how we can help the missionaries or other organizations that need money.  Our family decided to help out Operation Christmas Child (I think that's what it's called), after we heard about what children on the other side of the world have to do without.  While I was able to buy my boys each a 24-box of Crayons for $.50, on the other side of the globe, children go without because crayons cost $5.00... and the average monthly income is $2.00.  Children in Africa need to follow a food truck once a week in order to get fed, and because they lack bowls or cups, they drop the hot oatmeal (or whatever they're served) out of their hands and onto the road...  And they end up eating it off the road.


So how can I ask for anything more than a coffee cup, when there are children living like this?

Day 164, Post 1

Today has already been a whirlwind day.  And it's probably going to get even more so considering I just drank a 6-hour energy shot and I'm currently nursing an AMP energy drink.  (Can you tell I was feeling completely exhausted?)

To start the day off, Thing 2 beat me at a game of Backgammon (almost) fair-and-square before school.  I found out my paycheck was deposited so I went to the ATM to get money for Dave and I to buy gas and my card was rejected as invalid.  Invalid??  I called the bank and because I changed my last name due to the divorce, a new ATM card was issued a month ago.  I just never opened the envelope.  Doh.

So home I went, and then to Speedway to buy gas.  Yea...  I paid for $15, pulled the handle so it would pump while I was taking care of trash and the next thing I know, my car has $21+ in gas.  And I'm an honest person so I went back in to take care of the balance I owed, but the girl at the cash register couldn't figure it out and customer comp'd the difference for me.  Two gallons of free gas?!?  I'll take it!

Then, an hour after I got to work there was a fire alarm and the fire truck came so...  A nice ten minute break was had.

But I was crashing...  Hard...  I don't know why, but I was completely exhausted and coffee wasn't working so I went out during lunch to buy an energy shot.  I decided while I was out to buy new headphones (Slacker.com keeps me going during the day and my headphones broke) at Meijer and while checking out, I had a feeling to buy two scratch-off lottery tickets for $1 each.  And I won $4!

This afternoon I am getting my haircut for the first time since my birthday, and I am REALLY looking forward to it.  While I know I could go to Great Clips and spend $15, haircuts by my favorite local stylist are the one luxury that I really allow myself.  I am anything but a materialistic person as far as I'm concerned, but damn...  A good haircut complete with a shampoo and style just feels SO great sometimes.

Dave reminds me occasionally that God will provide what we need, but today He is being VERY good to me!  It's a GREAT day!  Thank you!

DAY 137, Post 1

I think the hardest part of my job is knowing what to do when I have nothing to do.  Right now is obviously one of those moments.  At no previous job has my desk ever been cleaner than my desk is right now.  Is there clutter on it?  Yes.  But only of the kind that my co-workers need and I can't put in a drawer that may be locked when they go to get it.  So...  The Franklin Covey puncher for organizer pages stays on my desk, taking up a valuable two-square-feet..

A definite perk of this job is the plethora of K-Cup options for the Keurig machine in the break rooms.  With probably a minimum of 20 flavors, I've been able to try my tongue at them without having to buy a whole box at the grocery store.  At $7.99/box, I would hate to get a box home and discover upon the first sip that I detest the flavor.  Thanks to Dave and his sweet tooth, I've started putting sugar in my coffee again and have been able to stomach every flavor the break room has to offer.

And the highlights of my job?!  The continued ability to have lunch with Dave every day.  And today we carpooled.  (Can it be considered carpooling when we only drive a quarter-mile at most to work?)  Unfortunately the lunches and carpooling will stop next week when his schedule moves up an hour-and-a-half, but we'll still be able to see each other on breaks. 

This is the boys' weekend with their Dad, quite appropriately considering it's Father's Day weekend, and Dave and I are enjoying a little bit of quiet already.  Weekends begin Wednesday night and don't end until I pick them up after work on Monday.  I can't fully figure out what to do for Dave for Father's Day though.  K is across the ocean, and my bank account is suffering, but I still want to do something special for him.  He is an amazing father to his daughter, an amazing role-model for my boys, and an amazing person altogether.  I just want him to have an amazing day.