Proverbs 31:22

This was my first week at the new job as a medical transcriptionist in a cardiovascular clinic. My brain and body are SO tired! I came home each evening just exhausted. Even so, I am surprised to say that I really like the job. Everyone in the office is nice. The lady training me has been there for more than a decade. She is retiring in October 2009. On my first day, she really surprised me by saying, "You're the first one they've tried that I've been hopeful about." I don't have any training in medical transcription. I did do one file for a doctor while working for Internet Transcribers. It was a conference call for parents of children with ADHD. After that one file, I said, "I don't want any more medical stuff!" Really, that one was a piece of cake because it was mostly meds that I had to Google to find spellings on. This job is definitely a lot more than meds. The most difficult part is actually being able to distinguish what the docs are sayi...

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day! We are headed out to Kimberly's in-laws' house for the day. I'm about to go downstairs and make some chocolate creme pies, fruit salad, and bake a ham glazed with honey and brown sugar. My baby brother comes in tomorrow for the weekend. I can't wait to see him. He hasn't visited us since Kimber graduated 2.5 years ago. Laikyn and I spent a few hours with him in Atlanta last December on our way to visit my nephew in South Carolina. Oh, and tonight, Kimberly and the baby will spend the night here with us!! :-)

I cannot believe the tape measure today! :-( Even though I lost a pound since last month's weigh-in, I've GAINED 6.5" !!! That is just downright discouraging. Since 6/18/08, I've lost 5# and 10".

Lots going around here lately. I haven't had time to blog much. As I wrote before , I took a seasonal, part-time job at Sears because it was the only offer I had. I started a few weeks ago. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either. Does that make sense? After 3 times of working with someone, they had me scheduled to work alone this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. First thing Tuesday morning, I started making mistakes and having to call for supervisors. When my immediate supervisor finally came around at lunch time, I told her that I really wasn't comfortable being on my own. She graciously understood and sent someone over to work with me the rest of the day. Jessica was awesome and she taught me a lot. On Tuesday, I had a call from one of the staffing agencies I applied with. They had a position for a medical transcriptionist open. I told her that I didn't have experience or training in medical transcription. She relayed that to the administrator...

As I said before , we went to Huntsville for my birthday yesterday. We fixed some of our favorite gourmet-style chicken salad, packed the picnic basket and ice chest, and started loading up the car. While we were running around loading things, Michael stopped me and said, "Do you want to bring this?" "Bring what?" I asked. He grabbed a blue shopping bag off the chair and put it down on the floor at my feet. It held my birthday present/anniversary present/Christmas present -- for the next two years! I was TOTALLY floored to find that the bag held a Nikon D60 Digital SLR camera!!! A few months ago -- before the recent cutbacks at work -- I had told him, "I want a Digital SLR camera for Christmas; make it happen." Of course, after recent events, I was no longer holding him to that request. I was a little suspicious during the week when he pulled the Best Buy circular out of the garbage can and looked through it, but with all the activity this past week, I hon...

I had job offers from two places yesterday: Sears and K Mart. Since I didn't have any other offers on the table, I took the job at Sears, even though it is only seasonal. Of course, there is the possibility of it turning into a permanent job after the holidays. I'm still looking, though, since retail isn't my first choice. I'd much prefer something in an office, but for now, I'm taking it! It's only part-time, but it offered the possibility of more hours than the job at K Mart. I should start next week. When I first got the offer from K Mart (in the morning), I called one other place that I had applied at because I knew they were conducting interviews this week and I wanted to know the status of things before I accepted K Mart. This was for a part-time office assistant job at a saddle company. I was totally floored when the guy told me that they had received well over 100 applications (!!) and they were only choosing 5-10 to call for interviews. Yikes! How is a ...

I was on the phone earlier with our Realtor and had a call come in. I didn't answer it, because Deidre and I were discussing things about the house sale/search. When I hung up, I checked my missed calls and it was from Waste Management. The interviewer left a voice mail saying that they had filled the positions. Even though I really knew that was the case, I'm still so disappointed. :-( I don't even have the heart to call back and ask her to critique me. Yesterday while in town shopping, I dropped off about a half dozen applications at different places that I had picked up from before. This is so discouraging. ALL this stuff -- house sale/search; job cutbacks for hubby; financial pressures -- is weighing on me heavily today.

13 years ago today, my mother, my best friend, passed from this world into the next and left a huge hole in my life and the lives of my children and all who knew her. Love and miss you, Mom.

Julia over at Hooked on Houses is hosting a tour blog party . It's raining here today, so I was thinking, "Well, today wouldn't be a good day to take pics." Then, I was looking through previous posts on Hooked on Houses where she mentioned fuzzy MLS photos, and I thought, "I can use the very good photos Deidre took for our MLS listing for the tour!" Well, I just looked at the first photo that I saved from the listing and they are tiny . So, now I'll have to scour my computer finding photos of our house to share. Oh, well. I found this cool picture of my sil Judy at our first meal in our new home on New Year's Eve 2005. My favorite food is boiled blue crabs and my in-laws drove up here with an ice chest full from S. Louisiana to help us move. Aren't they so nice? :-) In this photo, you can see what our dining room looked like when we moved in. The top of the dining room walls and the entire foyer had this hideous red and green magnolia wallpaper. ...

I have still not heard anything on the job I applied for on Friday. I even called yesterday to find out something, but I just got the interviewer's voice mail. I left a message, but she hasn't returned the call yet. Maybe she's out of the office for a few days??? I'm trying to be patient, but most of the time, I have to admit that I am anxious for word. One way or the other, I really want to know if I have this job. Of course, I would prefer that the answer would be "yes." But the not knowing is a little nerve-wracking. Especially when Michael came home earlier this week and said that he was told absolutely NO overtime. This is devastating news for us. We are strapped financially already. We hope something happens soon. Selling the house will help us pay off about four bills, which help tremendously. My bringing in a good second income will also help us not to go under. We also could use the benefits that the job at Waste Management offers. The insurance that...

I'm a few days past my monthly measurement/weight check deadline. Oh, well. I actually GAINED 3# this month. That's always so disappointing. :-( To date, I have lost 4# since 6/18/08. Inches wise, I lost 3.5" overall this month -- I lost in every area except my thighs, which I gained an inch apiece on. I lost an inch in my bust and another inch in my waist. I lost a half an inch each in my upper and lower abs and my hips. To date, since 6/18/08, I have lost 16.5" overall!! Yippee!! With all the house hunting/selling stuff going on in our lives right now, we have skipped more days this past month at the gym than we have in any other month since we joined. I haven't been to Pilates but one time this month so far. And we will miss again tomorrow as we have showings scheduled to look at the houses with Michael . I really feel it. I'm having a 15-minute massage today while Laikyn is getting her adjustment at the chiropractor. I've been doing a lot of typing/tra...

This past Thursday, Laikyn and I looked at four more properties. One of them was in Lakeside Highlands and it made it onto the short list out of these four (mainly because of the neighborhood). One other one made it as well and it's in my second choice of neighborhoods (Edgemont). We are scheduled to look at both of them on Thursday with Michael. Out of the two houses, I would choose the one in Edgemont. The one is Lakeside is nice, but it would need new flooring and new appliances. The one in Edgemont is move-in ready. One downside to this house (besides it's not being in Lakeside) is that the kitchen only has a few cabinets. click any photo to make larger These are the ONLY cabinets in the kitchen. There is a china hutch, though, that comes with the house that would be good for storing dishes, etc. There is also plenty room to add more cabinets, and the kitchen would not need to be gutted like so many of the other houses we've looked at. This photo is looking from the spa...

Today, we had Kim, Dewayne, and Nathan over for the day. We also invited a young man that Laikyn works with over. He has expressed interest in spending time with her and we have already gone to a football game together. It's a little awkward to explain to someone our views on dating. We don't allow unsupervised contact for our daughters and young men. It's also different for us because Kimberly and Dewayne's courtship happened entirely over the telephone, long distance from Colorado. But, Michael did explain somewhat what our views are and why, and Michael (that's his name, too) seemed okay with it. He said he understood and seemed willing to do this however we deem necessary. Nathan is just so precious. He's smiling and cooing now and it's just so sweet. He's nine weeks old and weighs 16+ pounds and is now 25" long. He's gained nearly 8 pounds and grew 4" since his birth. He's a little bruiser!!

On Thursday, I applied online for a data entry clerk position with Waste Management. The corporate office for this market area called me about an hour later and said they were going to be conducting interviews next week and they would call me. Well, I got a call on Friday morning from the local office asking if I could come in later that morning to interview. I have not worked outside of the home for the last 22 years! I feel that I did really horribly in the interview. They seemed concerned that perhaps I am not ready to make the transition from working part-time from home to working full-time outside the home. After I left, I wondered about that. Like the rest of the time (when I'm not working from home), I'm just sitting around watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. Is that what they think? And why didn't I think to point out the fact that I often work more than eight hours a day even if I'm not getting paid for it?? I tried to be as honest as I could when they ...

Here's what's been happening at our house the last week: At the suggestion of our Realtor , we are replacing the ceramic tiles (1/3 of which were cracked) in our kitchen to make our house more marketable. We listed our house with Deidre on Friday, and on Saturday, we had an offer! All before the first person looked at it! We counter offered and then they counter offered just slightly under our counter offer. However, they have since lost the person who was going to lease their home in South (or is it North?) Carolina. They are still interested in buying our house, but they won't reinstate the offer until they have someone firm to take theirs. Since we are replacing the floor and our house now looks like a bomb exploded in it, we are holding off showings until next week. We listed now, though, because the cut-off date to be in our local Showcase of Homes publications was the 14th. We wanted to be sure to get in the book for November! Our own home search will resume tomorrow.

I spoke to the Realtor this morning about getting our earnest money check back on the house on Lakeside Drive. While we were on the phone, she told me what the other house that's coming on the market this week will be set at price-wise. It will be out of our range. BUT, she did tell me that she ran into someone at a garage sale this weekend who just happened to be the woman who made the offer that the owner on Lakeside accepted. (She never met the lady because the buyer used a different Realtor to see the house.) Her house isn't on the market yet because she doesn't need to sell it first (must be nice). They want to do some work on it before they list it once she moves out. It also is in Lakeside Highlands. She did say that it only has 1.5 baths, but we had already decided that that was okay; as long it's not only 1 toilet, we're fine with it. (Of course, we liked the fact that the one on Lakeside had two full baths.) Anyway, the Realtor asked her why she was sellin...

The Realtor called today and said that the owner of the home we made an offer on decided to take another offer. :-( I'm disappointed, but not overly so. We all are disappointed. She did tell me about another house in the neighborhood that is supposed to be coming on the market soon, though. So, it's back to the drawing board, so to speak. On a brighter note, K&D&N came over for supper today! They had visited a friend before they came here and Nathan soiled his clothes while they were there. They borrowed a shirt of their friend's grandchild for him to wear. It was a size 3T and it was only a little big for Nathan. The kid is a chunk-a-munk!! Michael said Nathan's thighs are as thick as they are long. He has so many creases, it's crazy. And the little dimples where his knuckles will be are soooo adorable.

With all the talk of moving back into town, Laikyn has been considering finding a job in town once we move. The job she has now at the Lynn's horse farm is out here in the county near where we live now. Once we move, her commute will lengthen quite a bit. This week, Laikyn's boss asked her about this. Mrs. Lynn told her that while they know she will not always work there, they aren't ready to lose her as an employee just yet. She's a hard worker, dependable, and fast at her job. They offered to pay her gas bill to get back and forth to work if she will stay! She decided that she will stay. They pay her well and she knows that another job in town won't match the pay she has at the farm. I'm so proud of her. She is all those things that her boss said about her. She has inherited her dad's awesome work ethic!!

While we were at the house on Lakeside doing a third look-see, Kimberly and Dewayne and the baby came to look at it with us. Laikyn was holding him sort of face down over her arm. Michael stooped down on one knee to talk to him and when he saw Michael, he broke into a big smile!! He's been smiling when he sees Dewayne's face, too. This child is so precious to me! The Realtor was talking about having grandkids while we were there. She said that you don't think you can love anybody as much as you love your kids, but then the grandchildren come along and you discover you can. The love for my daughters hasn't diminished any, but there is something so totally different about loving a grandchild. I don't know what it is, but it is different. Kimberly sends me a photo on my phone every day or so and I take my phone out at least 10 times in a day just to look at his picture that I've set as my wallpaper. I have it pretty bad!

We ran an ad this week in a local paper for our house. It really hasn't generated any more call volume than the yard sign did. We did show it last night, though. It would be so nice to have someone come along who was pre-approved for a loan (or had CASH) and who didn't need to sell their home first. God can do it! But, will He? I hope and pray He will. I'm okay if He doesn't, though. We went back to look at the house on Lakeside Dr. on Wednesday. Kimberly and Dewayne (and the baby) met us there. I wanted their opinion on it as well as another chance to make sure that it was adequate for us. We really like the house. Kimber and Dewayne liked it as well. The house has many more positive things about it than negative things. The negatives are: less counter space in the kitchen than here no built-in bookcases like here (Michael can build them) the overhangs in the back need painting (the front looks great, though!) the third bedroom is a little small (but still adequate fo...