No, I do not have a job yet. It is now September and I do not have a job. Day after day I pray that this time I venture out to apply for a job I will get a call back for an interview. Day after day I hear nothing. This is the longest time I have been unemployed since I was 19 years old. I am going crazy! Not really, but I need a job.
Well, if I do not have a job how do I fill my time you ask? I am not only the cook, maid, and errand girl anymore. I am now a landscape architect! Well, maybe not an architect of our landscape, but I now mow and edge the "lawn" (I say "lawn" because we have weeds not grass). I have been working on our backyard as well trying to kill all the weeds. I started with weeds as high as mid thigh and in clusters as big as size 4 soccer balls. After a grounds crew did a poor job of dealing with the height of our "lawn" I have been tackling the large clusters of weeds. I have sprayed and watered just to have succeeded in turning a quarter of our backyard into a dust bowl and the other 3/4 are still thriving like champs.
I have also become the "get 'er done!" person when it comes to repairs to be made that should have been made before we moved in. Case in point, our microwave made a funny noise when a friend tried to heat up some left over pizza when he came to help us paint in June. We told our landlord about it at that time and I have had a working microwave for only ten days now. I know that might seem miniscule, but when your oven does not work either, how are we to eat? I am very thankful to now have a working oven for 2 days. I hate to be rude but it should have been working since we moved in over a month ago!
The best job I have aquired while being stuck at home is dog trainer. Since Jade was a puppy, both of us have been very involved in her up bringing. We have been so committed to her that she became our child. We discussed in depth how to discipline her, when to feed her, crate training her, leash training her, and so much more. We need to be on the same page so as to not send comflicting signals that might confuse her while understanding that she is not human. She was actually a pretty easy dog to train. She was house broken in one month and had all your basic commands down pat by two weeks. One thing we had to realize about her is that she will be a puppy for a long time and we could not let her roam the house unattended lest she chew up anything valuable or get into something that could be detrimental to her health. So, we bought her a play pin. It kept her confined without having to be stuck in her crate all day. I was a miracle worker for us and, even though she was very capable of jumping out of it, she loved it. However, when we moved to our new place, the play pin did not fit so well. I then took it upon myself to transition her to the kitchen. It took me and Jade one week to go from pin to kitchen with a babygate to just kitchen. It is so great to have her out of my living room! It is also better for her to finally be able to have full access to her water bowl and to be able to lie in her padded crate whenever she wants instead of on the hard wood floor. Now if I could just teach her how to fetch me a beer . . .
So, as you see I am not completely without things to keep me occupied, but we still have no income. I really, really need a job!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Nephew Ethan is here!
Yeah! My nephew, Ethan Skocelas, is finally here! I am sure that the rest of us cannot be as gleeful as my sister! I know I will be in her position one day and would appreciate the recognition when the time comes. She is such a wonderful person! I cannot imagine having the ability to share my newborn with so many people. I know I would want to be so selfish and not let anyone one else hold him, at least until he starts to cry! I cannot claim that I will even allow Mark to hold my newborn! They had just as many people visiting this delivery as her first delivery. I do not know how she puts up with all that commotion just hours after delivering. I pray that I will have it together to not only allow people to touch my newborn but to hold conversation and be patient enough to repeat myself over and over!
Did I mentoion how perfect he looked! God did another great job weaving my sister and brother in law into one person! I was given the opportunity today to spend some time with my family and I was allowed to hold Ethan after his lunch and he gracefully fell asleep on my chest. I hated having to put him down in his bed to finish his nap. I already love him so much! Emory, my niece, seems to have adjusted pretty well so far. She is so sweet to her new baby brother other than asking if they could put him back into mother's belly! It was basically a question of couriosity not animosity!
Did I mentoion how perfect he looked! God did another great job weaving my sister and brother in law into one person! I was given the opportunity today to spend some time with my family and I was allowed to hold Ethan after his lunch and he gracefully fell asleep on my chest. I hated having to put him down in his bed to finish his nap. I already love him so much! Emory, my niece, seems to have adjusted pretty well so far. She is so sweet to her new baby brother other than asking if they could put him back into mother's belly! It was basically a question of couriosity not animosity!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
All Moved In
Wow! It was tough, but we got it done!
Thank you all who kept us in your prayers on July 31st. Even though we were delayed 45 miniutes due to rain, we managed to get everything to Tuscaloosa safe and sound! It took about five hours to load the truck and about one hour to unload it! Mark tackled the 24foot monster of a truck. I am glad I did not have to drive it! Picking up the truck was not bad but returning it . . . now that is a horse of a different color. We drove across town for about twenty minutes, stopped and turned around because we thought we missed the place to drop it off, just to turn around again and the place was up the road from where we stopped the first time! Then I had to battle the steep dirt road in the Cobra as I followed the truck into the lot. Fun, fun! We have only one more box to unpack but we have to wait until we can buy a new bookshelf.
The animals are adjusting fine! Jade loves her new outdoor space! The kitties have found new places to hide! I love being able to park my car in a garage and its so much easier to unload groceries! It is so nice to not have to battle for a parking spot in an apartment complex!
Mark starts oreintation tomorrow and I have completed my first round of job searching yesterday. My sister is being induced this thursday so my mom came into town yesterday. She came over today to see our new place and to hang out for a bit with us. I always forget how much I miss my parents until I get to see them again. I cannot wait for Baby Ethan to get here!
Thank you all who kept us in your prayers on July 31st. Even though we were delayed 45 miniutes due to rain, we managed to get everything to Tuscaloosa safe and sound! It took about five hours to load the truck and about one hour to unload it! Mark tackled the 24foot monster of a truck. I am glad I did not have to drive it! Picking up the truck was not bad but returning it . . . now that is a horse of a different color. We drove across town for about twenty minutes, stopped and turned around because we thought we missed the place to drop it off, just to turn around again and the place was up the road from where we stopped the first time! Then I had to battle the steep dirt road in the Cobra as I followed the truck into the lot. Fun, fun! We have only one more box to unpack but we have to wait until we can buy a new bookshelf.
The animals are adjusting fine! Jade loves her new outdoor space! The kitties have found new places to hide! I love being able to park my car in a garage and its so much easier to unload groceries! It is so nice to not have to battle for a parking spot in an apartment complex!
Mark starts oreintation tomorrow and I have completed my first round of job searching yesterday. My sister is being induced this thursday so my mom came into town yesterday. She came over today to see our new place and to hang out for a bit with us. I always forget how much I miss my parents until I get to see them again. I cannot wait for Baby Ethan to get here!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Everybody Loves Atlanta!
Nicole and Robert (some friends of ours) came to visit us from the Ham last weekend. Friday night, we went to Dave and Busters and had a blast. I swear that place is worse than a casino! Well, I have never been to a casino, but I imagine that money slips through wallets and exchanges hands just as quickly! In my head, I held an ideal that D & B would be very similar to my old Chuck E. Cheese days, and it was to an extent. First, you get a prepaid credit card (which they charge you 2 bucks for) and choose how much you want to spend. Of course, this all depends on the game token : dollar : tokens per game ratio. I do not want to get into it, because it is very confusing! :) Did I mention that I had coupons for a not so great deal? Secondly, you have to swipe your card like a credit card to play the games. After eating dinner, Nicole and I started off with a couple rounds of Ski Ball. I love Ski Ball! Then, I found my true talent playing a coin game. When the game starts, it gives you several coins to drop in the slot of your choice. Then it will push your coin forward and hopefully push other coins up front forward and over the edge and the machine will spit out tickets! Mark and Robert played basketball and some other games. The best part is that you can drink and play at the same time! Man, I could spend a fortune in that place! At the end of the night, we all took a stroll through the prize store and cashed in our tickets. Nicole and Robert had over 2400 tickets and Mark and I had over 4200 tickets. Nicole saw a huge plush giraffe when we all first walked past the store before starting to play. It was 3000 tickets, but she did not have enough to get it and she had to have it because she talked about all night so we all combined our tickets. In the end we walked away with 2 plastic D & B cups, 2 t-shirts, a plush Buzz (GT's mascot's name), a plush blue dog, and the 6 foot giraffe (I named her Jazzy which is short for Jasmine). I want to go back so bad!
On Saturday, we went to Six Flags! Nicole signed us up for Flash passes so we did not have to wait in line, but we still only got to ride 4 rides. I had many not so great coupons for Six Flags too! I did, however, have two great coupons to get them into the park! :) After waiting in line to park, we had to wait in a line to get tickets, and another line to get into the park and then another line to get the Flash Pass. All this took about 2 hours! Blah! The first ride we went on was the Mindbender! It was great, but I got a little freaked out because I had not mentally prepared myself for the day's activities. After eating lunch, we rode the Batman! I really like that ride! Acrophobia was next and I do NOT like that ride! I fell victim to peer pressure and agreed to ride, but when it came time to actually sit in the seat, Nicole bailed and I desparately wanted to follow in her foot steps! Unfortunately, I did not decide quickly enough and up I rose and around I went, then down I came and I shall never do it again! You know that feeling of anxiety that would overcome you when you did something really bad and you knew your parents knew about it, but you had to confront them anyway knowing what would happen? Multiply that by one million and you have my level of anxiety and distress 200ft in the air, listening to the guy count down to the moment I would plummet face down to the ground, trusting and praying that the hydraulics were engineered by a Tech Grad and not a Georgia Grad! I could barely walk when the ride was over and my hands shook for the next ten minutes. The last ride that we rode was the Goliath, but I decided to sit that one out because I had had enough excitement for one day. Nicole and Robert drove back to the Ham from Six Flags and Mark and I enjoyed a relaxing evening at home! Thanks to them for a wonderful weekend and a small dose of fear factor!
On Saturday, we went to Six Flags! Nicole signed us up for Flash passes so we did not have to wait in line, but we still only got to ride 4 rides. I had many not so great coupons for Six Flags too! I did, however, have two great coupons to get them into the park! :) After waiting in line to park, we had to wait in a line to get tickets, and another line to get into the park and then another line to get the Flash Pass. All this took about 2 hours! Blah! The first ride we went on was the Mindbender! It was great, but I got a little freaked out because I had not mentally prepared myself for the day's activities. After eating lunch, we rode the Batman! I really like that ride! Acrophobia was next and I do NOT like that ride! I fell victim to peer pressure and agreed to ride, but when it came time to actually sit in the seat, Nicole bailed and I desparately wanted to follow in her foot steps! Unfortunately, I did not decide quickly enough and up I rose and around I went, then down I came and I shall never do it again! You know that feeling of anxiety that would overcome you when you did something really bad and you knew your parents knew about it, but you had to confront them anyway knowing what would happen? Multiply that by one million and you have my level of anxiety and distress 200ft in the air, listening to the guy count down to the moment I would plummet face down to the ground, trusting and praying that the hydraulics were engineered by a Tech Grad and not a Georgia Grad! I could barely walk when the ride was over and my hands shook for the next ten minutes. The last ride that we rode was the Goliath, but I decided to sit that one out because I had had enough excitement for one day. Nicole and Robert drove back to the Ham from Six Flags and Mark and I enjoyed a relaxing evening at home! Thanks to them for a wonderful weekend and a small dose of fear factor!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
*+*July 4th*+*
When most people think of family holidays, their minds usually think of Christmas and Thanksgiving first, birthdays might follow as a close second, then Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Spring Break bring up the rear because these holidays revolve around weekends. July 4th is like a floating holiday people take at a more convenient time. For me, July 4th has always ment a great time with family and an excuse to play with fire!
July 4th was always my third favorite holiday after Christmas and my birthday. My parents would take us on two vacations every Summer as a child. One would be a week in Texas visiting my Dad's family (which I always enjoyed as well) and the other was July 4th in Atlanta visiting my Mom's family. My mom has two older brothers and both of them would bring their families as well. Everyone brought fireworks because you could not buy fireworks in Georgia but you could set them off. There was always a ton of fireworks! On other nights my cousins and I would spend hours collecting as many lightning bugs as we could. One year, a neighbor of my grandparents I had become friends with invited me to join her flag twirling group and walk in the Dunwoody parade. I was super excited and my mom bought me this great red, white, and blue dress to wear. The only drawback was I had to take a nap before the parade! Another year, my Aunt took all of us and our cousins to Stone Mountain to see the laser light show and the fireworks. We brought blankets to sit on, a cooler for cokes, and snacks. We had such a great time, we decided to go again another year! Unfortunately, those trips were retired as all of us kids grew up and with the passing of my grandparents.
Last year, my sister invited Mark and I to go with them to Thunder on the Mountain. If you have never been, its an awesome display of fireworks around Vulcan. Nothing like Stone Mountain, but still pretty great! We had a fantastic time that night with my sister, brother-in-law, my neice and their friends.
This year, we did not go anywhere and it was great! I loved being able to relax and sleep in a bit. All we did was go to the pool for about an hour, eat at Dreamland (of course we had to have BBQ!) and watch the fireworks display at Lenox on tv!
To this day, I am always excited about the forth because of all the great memories I have of my family and my childhood. I look forward to having kids and getting together with family to form many new memories!
July 4th was always my third favorite holiday after Christmas and my birthday. My parents would take us on two vacations every Summer as a child. One would be a week in Texas visiting my Dad's family (which I always enjoyed as well) and the other was July 4th in Atlanta visiting my Mom's family. My mom has two older brothers and both of them would bring their families as well. Everyone brought fireworks because you could not buy fireworks in Georgia but you could set them off. There was always a ton of fireworks! On other nights my cousins and I would spend hours collecting as many lightning bugs as we could. One year, a neighbor of my grandparents I had become friends with invited me to join her flag twirling group and walk in the Dunwoody parade. I was super excited and my mom bought me this great red, white, and blue dress to wear. The only drawback was I had to take a nap before the parade! Another year, my Aunt took all of us and our cousins to Stone Mountain to see the laser light show and the fireworks. We brought blankets to sit on, a cooler for cokes, and snacks. We had such a great time, we decided to go again another year! Unfortunately, those trips were retired as all of us kids grew up and with the passing of my grandparents.
Last year, my sister invited Mark and I to go with them to Thunder on the Mountain. If you have never been, its an awesome display of fireworks around Vulcan. Nothing like Stone Mountain, but still pretty great! We had a fantastic time that night with my sister, brother-in-law, my neice and their friends.
This year, we did not go anywhere and it was great! I loved being able to relax and sleep in a bit. All we did was go to the pool for about an hour, eat at Dreamland (of course we had to have BBQ!) and watch the fireworks display at Lenox on tv!
To this day, I am always excited about the forth because of all the great memories I have of my family and my childhood. I look forward to having kids and getting together with family to form many new memories!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Our eyes were bigger than our hands!
Last weekend, Mark and I strolled down to T-Town and painted our house. I think we bit off a little more than we could chew in one weekend, but with the help of friends and family we got it done.
We got into town on Thursday and immediately went to Home Depot (after eating at Wings of course!) to purchase all the supplies we would need to paint a house. Except the paint because we had already purchased it. Little did we know that this would be the first trip to a home improvement store, but not the only trip!
Friday began slowly with a sleepy wake-up call at 7am. After a quick breakfast and a 45 minute drive, we began working on cleaning up the basebaords and walls to tape off everything. This was my nightmare and I could only take so much. Not because I have an aversion to cleaning but because I have an aversion to hundreds of pairs of eight legs and eyes. That's right! They were everywhere and they came in all sizes! Luckily, I have a very sweet husband and a generous Mother in Law who took care of eliminating most of them. After the nightmare was over, the taping began. We taped and taped and taped until the word lost all meaning! We sent Mother Kajdos home about 6pm because Mark and I had planned on putting the first coat of paint on the walls of the office and the guest room. We did not leave till about 11pm. What a first day!
Saturday began with an even harsher wake-up call at 7am. After another quick breakfast, another 45 minute drive, a visit to Lowe's AND a 30 minute search for a Starbucks, we got started on painting the largest area of the house. Kara and I started by painting with a brush and Mark started the rolling. It worked out great for me that he liked to roll and it worked out great for him that I liked the brush work. Matt showed up about 1pm and with all of us working very hard with very few breaks we got everything done, except the master bedroom. Can you believe that we ran out of paint? Kara went with me on the third and final trip to Home Depot to get one more gallon of paint at 9pm. That seemed to finish us all up and we headed home about 10pm.
I bet you can guess how Sunday started! An early alarm at 7am. It was especially hard for Mark since he stayed up to hang out with friends till almost 3am, but we made it down to the house by 9:30am and the clean up began! Mark and his mom removed the tape around the baseboards while I was up and down the ladder removing the tape around the ceiling and painting over mistakes. We left about 2pm with a satisfied feeling and pictures!
All in all, everything went well and I do not want to see another paint brush for a very long time!
We got into town on Thursday and immediately went to Home Depot (after eating at Wings of course!) to purchase all the supplies we would need to paint a house. Except the paint because we had already purchased it. Little did we know that this would be the first trip to a home improvement store, but not the only trip!
Friday began slowly with a sleepy wake-up call at 7am. After a quick breakfast and a 45 minute drive, we began working on cleaning up the basebaords and walls to tape off everything. This was my nightmare and I could only take so much. Not because I have an aversion to cleaning but because I have an aversion to hundreds of pairs of eight legs and eyes. That's right! They were everywhere and they came in all sizes! Luckily, I have a very sweet husband and a generous Mother in Law who took care of eliminating most of them. After the nightmare was over, the taping began. We taped and taped and taped until the word lost all meaning! We sent Mother Kajdos home about 6pm because Mark and I had planned on putting the first coat of paint on the walls of the office and the guest room. We did not leave till about 11pm. What a first day!
Saturday began with an even harsher wake-up call at 7am. After another quick breakfast, another 45 minute drive, a visit to Lowe's AND a 30 minute search for a Starbucks, we got started on painting the largest area of the house. Kara and I started by painting with a brush and Mark started the rolling. It worked out great for me that he liked to roll and it worked out great for him that I liked the brush work. Matt showed up about 1pm and with all of us working very hard with very few breaks we got everything done, except the master bedroom. Can you believe that we ran out of paint? Kara went with me on the third and final trip to Home Depot to get one more gallon of paint at 9pm. That seemed to finish us all up and we headed home about 10pm.
I bet you can guess how Sunday started! An early alarm at 7am. It was especially hard for Mark since he stayed up to hang out with friends till almost 3am, but we made it down to the house by 9:30am and the clean up began! Mark and his mom removed the tape around the baseboards while I was up and down the ladder removing the tape around the ceiling and painting over mistakes. We left about 2pm with a satisfied feeling and pictures!
All in all, everything went well and I do not want to see another paint brush for a very long time!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Happy Anniversary!
Today is our 7 year anniversary! I know that now we are married some people might think that it is ridiculous to recognize our dating anniversary, but this day has ment so much to us for 6 years. And now we have achieved 7 years together! We have accomplished so much together over these past several years (I can actually use the word several!). We have grown up together, experienced college together, and owned pets together. We have loved together and lost together. We have visited other nations and conquered the interstates together. We also have many of the same friends that have stuck by our sides as well as both of our wonderful families. We have moved numerous times and put up with trash roomates together. We have known each other since 6th grade and we are best friends. The Lord chose to save us, bring us to Him and then bring us together. His unconditional love has taught us how to love each other even when we are angry. I love my Mark with all my heart and I look forward to a lifetime of many more accomplishments with him!
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