Gotta brag

I am feeling quite satisfied with myself right now!

I applied for a job as a grant writer about a month ago, and then last week got a follow-up email asking me to do a phone interview.  I did that yesterday, and had an in-person interview today, and it went really well!

Let me back up.  First of all - Amber's looking for a job?  What?  Yes, it's time.  I don't know what's going on with my emotions and stuff but screw it I have to do something, challenge myself.  And if it's a bad idea, well then, God please put up obstacles for me.

I scheduled the interview - "Two o'clock on Tuesday?  Works for me, I look forward to meeting you!" - and then panicked, because a) I have nothing to wear (I haven't bought any professional clothing since I've gained twenty pounds since working at Panasonic) and b) my car is currently deader than a doornail that keeps getting temporarily revived for mere seconds with electric shock and then dies again.

So what did I do?  Of course, I called Angela, who had offered to take me clothes shopping today.  "Hey Angela," I emailed her, "Maybe can we do our shopping in the morning instead?  And then can you drive me to my interview and just hang out while I do that?  kthxbye."  She was awesome and picked me up at 10:30 and we went to Banana Republic  (a store I've never been to, because, I realized, I hate bananas and I always associated that store with bananas) and almost immediately found me some comfy nice pants, a cute fitted top, and a cardigan!  I looked so great, if I do say so myself.

Then we went to Nordstrom Rack and found some shoes that fit and looked good!  And we were done!  We had lunch at my house, I printed out my "writing portfolio" (really just a collection of my best academic work, but that's all I have right now unless I want to give her the link to my Expert Sinner blog, um, no thanks) and then we went and Angela waited for me for like an hour and a half!

Anyway, here's where the bragging part came in...I rock interviews and I rocked this one.  The lady told me she had read about a hundred cover letters and MINE was the best!  I grudgingly credit one of my English professors for making us apply to a fake job and then tearing apart our cover letters with red font.  Yep, if anyone wants my cover letter for a proven BEST template, just send me $39.95...just kidding.  But seriously, if you want to see it, you can have it!

Anyway, she said there are some other amazing candidates too, and implied that I was one of the top ones...really, the interview couldn't have gone better.  I think she's only done phone interviews with the other candidates, so hopefully my in-person interview goes better than theirs...ahem, unless God wills otherwise.  Really (I was telling Angela) I am happy for the interviewing experience, even if I don't get the job.  I feel so confident.

And since I don't need a job really badly - like, we'll still be able to pay our mortgage whether or not I'm employed, which is a luxury many can't afford - I'm really, truly ambivalent about whether I get this particular job.  I don't know if I can handle a full time job with stress and stuff, but there's no way to know until I do it.  I have the time, and the skills, and at the moment I have the drive.  So I just have to trust God to carry me from here.  There have been other jobs I've applied for and some of them pay better and seem easier, so who knows!

Oh, and I don't have a picture to post (when do I ever?) but Angela took a picture of me in the kitchen in my interview outfit just as I was about to swallow a birth control pill.  You can't see the pill but it's on my tongue and I am probably smiling weirdly because it's weird to smile while you have a pill on your tongue!

mommy happy dance

Okay, so this is a little random, and maybe bordering TMI, but I have been doing the mommy happy dance all morning and have to share with someone!  


Last night while I was at work, Shea was with Jeremy and all his cousins at my in-law's house.  He saw the girls going potty and asked to go, and so he did.  He does this ever so often when he sees another kid going potty.  Well, this morning (after we've been talking up how awesome he is for going potty), he jumps up after breakfast and sort of makes a weird exclamation (not sure what he said), so I say, "OH do you have to go potty??"  And he RUNS to the bathroom (which he has never done before - usually he runs the opposite direction when I suggest it).  Then he sits himself on the potty and goes number 2 for the first time, and he was laughing SO hard, it was the funniest thing I've seen!  In a weird way, I wanted to videotape him (even though that seems strange to record someone going to the bathroom), because he was so, so funny.  He kept saying, "It's working mama!  It's working!" hahaa.


And then he got 3 mini m&m's. 


Here's to hoping we'll only have one kid in diapers this summer!


I have three days off this week and thankfully, Jeremy has work today to make up for it!  I am about to go meet up with some moms I've never met from my group at the Indianola general store for some coffee, and then go run some errands!


Have a fantastic day, ladies!

In Transition

Now that I have caught up on reading posts I feel that I can post now too!  I just let out a big sigh as I started to type.  I guess that's a reflection on my life lately.  I never enjoy transitions, I just want to get over the change and start with the new part of our lives.  I found last weekend (Easter) to be very draining because we were apartment hunting.  I find the whole thing is a bit stressful with all the decision making.  Plus the area we are hoping to live is really expensive so trying to find something we like in budget has been tough.  BUT, thankfully the Lord is so faithful and always takes care of us-we found a place!  It happened at just the right time, we had just looked at a small 2 bedroom apt in a house that I loved, but Justin hated the area (suburbs) and once we factored in utilities the rent was over budget.  We had just decided to suck it up and look for a one bedroom place.  Justin wanted to drive around his dream neighborhood knowing full well we wouldn't be able to find a place there.  Well, at the very edge of this neighborhood was a semi-detached house with a FOR RENT sign.  We called the number, found out it was in budget, viewed the house and after a bit more negotiating, got the rent lowered $100 a month and we signed a lease for May 1st!

Here is a photo of our new home:

We will be living on the light blue side.  Its a three bedroom house with a deck and a bit of yard in the back!  The house is a bit rundown, but I think we can decorate it to look really cute.  The other house (the darker side we won't live on)  is next to a busy street, but its in such a good location!  Its a 3 minute walk for me to the train that will take me to school and about 3 miles from Justin's work!  Its crazy, we looked up houses for sale in the area, and on our street there are two houses for just under a million, the rest are all million dollar+ houses-I'm not really sure how we ended up here, but I don't care! 

Last Thursday I finished my final test for the term, so I am off school for a month before I start summer courses.  I'm just amazed at the timing for us!  I have two weeks to pack up the house and then 2 weeks to set up our new place.  Its perfect.

So now that we have a place, we are working on subletting our apartment in Simcoe.  We have shown it at least 6 times, with one more coming this afternoon.  I'm sure we'll find a renter, its just a matter of finding someone that our landlord is happy with too. 

I've been able to do a lot more sewing now that school is done.  I finally finished Justin's shirt, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  Justin likes it too and wore it to church today. 

Well, I should sign off before our next potential renter gets here.  Hopefully the next time I write we will have someone to take over our lease!  

Finally, Rest.

I feel like one of Angela's posts a little while back.  When you realize how tired you have been, because even on your days off and even when you are doing things you love, you are still DOING things and not totally resting.  I finally feel like I've had some time to rest and enjoy life again.

The Bainbridge Island store closed this week from Monday through Thursday, which meant that we only had the Poulsbo location open, and therefore less hours available for everyone to work.  I still somehow managed to get scheduled for 40 hours, but I had Monday off.  Tuesday I only worked from 2 - 5.  Then I had Wednesday off, and today I only worked from 5-9:30.  Although we went on two shopping trips on two different days, and I was tired when we got home, I didn't do a lot of things at home.  I cleaned some, did laundry, but slowly and leisurely.  We watched shows in the evening on netflix.  I've been going to bed around 9:30 and actually feeling rested when I wake up!  This is really an improvement.  For the past two weeks I've felt like I've done nothing but not sleep well, wake up feeling like a brick hit me and trying to be a good mom to my totally happy and energetic son when I just want to put him in front of the TV and go back to bed.  

Today, I woke up, I put on a skirt, because it felt like spring.  I ate a healthy breakfast with my son.  I made my husband a latte and brought it to him in bed.  I let Shea paint.  We had a picnic at the beach.  It was a good day!

While we were at the beach, it was totally beautiful and sunny and I felt warm in my short sleeved shirt, when all of the sudden this huge, dark, ominous cloud swept in and it started raining like crazy!  Shea was laughing his head off and we ran to the car as quick as we could.  After we got home, Shea started playing "Super Heroes" and made Jeremy be the "bad guy".  Shea thought it would be fun to have a blue bucket on his head, and then he gave one to daddy. haha.  They were so funny.  I tried to get a picture of Jeremy and Shea together with their hats on, but Shea wouldn't sit still.  I made Jeremy let me take a picture of him anyway, because I know our kids will love looking at silly pictures of us when they are older.  

Shea and I ran out to Albertsons to use our WIC checks - superhero cape still on.  They had the white tulips on sale for $1.99 a bouquet, so I grabbed two.  Shea was flirting with just about every lady in the store, and when we got to the checkout the lady was so distracted talking to Shea that she rung up my flowers with my WIC purchase.  I pointed it out and she took it off.  Then they ended up in my cart, so I said I needed to pay for the flowers still, but she gave them to me for free.  Pays to have a cute son!  He also got a  cake-pop and I had a light coffee frap from starbucks while we shopped.  Kept us both happy while shopping.

Shea went down for his nap when I got home and I actually had time to just relax.  I didn't clean.  I sat down in bed with my new little One Year Bible that Jeremy got for me, my new journal (my old one has been filled for a few weeks and so I haven't written in a while), and I read and wrote, and it was so refreshing.

And last, but not least, 28 weeks and into my third trimester!!  12 more weeks to go!  I might make Jeremy take a new pic for this week, I'm not crazy about this one. haha.  Oh well!

Anyway, now I'm getting into my crazy weekend.  It shouldn't be too bad, but Saturday I have a 10 hour shift and I am sure it will be busy!  All weekend will probably be very busy, so hopefully that means work just flies by and I get another restful week as they close the store again for a few more days.  Take care girls!  Some times I wish I could just come and hang out and relax with you all!

its a beautiful day! ENJOY IT!

Well, I'm off to work 11 - 9 on a VERY sunny day!  I'm sure we will be very busy and I will be feeling dead by the time I get home and tired of telling high school girls who are working during spring break what to do all day! haha.  I hope you girls get to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL sunshine for me!!  I'm a little sad I'm going to miss Shea on his easter egg hunt at the Indianola clubhouse today, and I didn't do anything fun for easter for him...oh well!  There is always next year :)

a super day off!

Shea and his cousin Jon being super heroes this evening.  It is so cute hearing Shea say  in his little voice, "I'm a super hero, mama!"

Well!  I finally got a break from work (for a day).  My boss scheduled basically everyone for 40+ hours this week, and I've already worked two 10 hour shifts in the past three days.  I have another ten hour shift tomorrow (11 - 9) and I have to work on Sunday from 3-9:30.  The hours are good since they are closing the store for 4 days next week to do the remodel and I won't get many hours at the Poulsbo store, but I would be lying to say that  I am not looking forward to having a few days off!

This week seems to basically have been spent at work, but I did accomplish a few things!

I had Sunday and Monday off this past week.  Sunday my side of the family came over for dinner and we celebrated my brother and sister's birthdays.  It was nice, but I'm always kind of happy when everyone leaves because my family can be a bit overwhelming at times.  I like them in small doses. haha. 

Monday was BEAUTIFUL!  Jeremy and I finally got outside and worked in the yard a little bit.  I did another coat of paint on our dining room table (don't have a pic yet), but still need to do a protective top coat.  I wish I had done it today, but I haven't bought the paint yet.  We started moving some plants around, digging out some bricks to rearrange our garden beds, and I planted some herbs on my potting shelf.  We'll see how they do!  I'm a bit skeptical, because I'm really not a gardener, but am trying to make myself one by the summer.

I also was able to finish this book for Shea on Shutterfly:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CZsW7Vs4csnMg

They send me a free photo book at least once a year, so I was able to throw this together after a few nights of working on it this week.  We got it today and Shea had SO much fun reading it with me.  I know it will be a favorite to look back at when we are all older, too.  Hopefully I can keep up the tradition with Hailey as well!  I have a big project ahead of me getting all of our photos organized so that we can enjoy our memories as they grow.

Wednesday when I got to work I realized that my work keys were missing off of my key ring!  I thought that maybe Jeremy had taken them off for some reason, but he hadn't.  Turns out they somehow fell off at the bank on my way into work, and thank God, someone turned them in and I picked them up the next day.  I was fa-reaking out - it had keys to all three stores on it and I did NOT want to have to pay for the replacement.

Today was beautiful again!  My friend Mia came over for a visit with Devin.  The boys played and Mia and I caught up.  After lunch (I made tillapia filets over quinoa and Mia brought a salad) we took a walk on the beach with the boys.  The tide was so far out and it got so warm while we were out!  I cannot WAIT for summer and to be down at the beach all the time.

Once we got home, Shea went down for a nap and Mia and Devin headed back home.  Jeremy came home from work and we watched the last episode of Downton Abbey on netflix.  YES we both got hooked on Sunday night and watched an episode (or two) every night after I got home from work.  I wish the second season was on netflix!  My co-worker told me they are filming a third season too.  Thank you Angela and Candice for recommending it, it was so fun to have a show we both enjoyed watching together!

When Shea got up, the cousins came over to play for a bit and I made some enchiladas out of leftovers for dinner.  They were delicious.  After that we sat and watched a random cartoon together, I made some cookies and cocoa, and then Shea took a bath and headed to bed.  I was able to get so much done today, and yet feel like I hardly did anything!  The house is cleaned, almost all the laundry is done, and I got to enjoy time with a friend and see my husband today!  Plus Shea had so much playtime with other kids and outside that I know he had a good day too.

I'm debating whether I am going to go to my Zumba class tomorrow or not.  I want to go, but I kind of don't want to have to rush off to it in the morning, because I have to go straight to work and then will be gone all day.  Plus, Jeremy hurt his eye today and has some kind of weird sinus swelling or something around his eye because of it, so I don't know if he'll be up to watching Shea in the morning.

Oh, and my mom called me and told me that my dad is staying over night at the hospital tonight.  I guess he had a "mini-stroke" (or TIA) at work and so they sent him to the hospital.  I guess he couldn't talk.  He said he could think and knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn't say it and it was really scary.  Apparently a TIA doesn't leave an permanent print on scan and the symptoms don't stay permanently (like when my mom had a stroke and she still has trouble with the left side of her body), but they are keeping him overnight to run more tests, since a TIA is usually a sign that there is a bigger problem.

It is strange to see my parents having strokes.  Especially after both Jeremy's maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother passed away in the last month (although, they are both much older than my parents, of course).

Anyway!  Just felt like posting.  I'll have to include more pictures of all of my house projects next time.  We still haven't taken a belly pic, either!  Jeremy wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't really make him do it.

We have heat, glorious heat.

We were without heat for about 36 hours.  I spent that time in the bedroom cuddled with my kitties and being lazy, or I was out doing errands and being productive.  This man came out to our house within hours of me calling Griffs Heating and he fixed everything. The fireplace works now (still needs a new part but works for now) and our furnace has a new igniter, Heat is a wonderful thing.    

I love how pinterest allows me to find lots of new recipes.  This is what has been made this week. Croutons, brie-tomato-crackers (not pinterest just a lazy lunch), puff pancakes, tea and chocolate covered pomagranite, brie-tomatoe-spinach sandwich, and iced thumbprint cookies.  Paul is currently making sweet potatoes in the oven.  Oh and last week I made these crispy potatoes and I am addicted, they are amazing.  Combine with the brussel sprouts they make an amazing light dinner. I love making food, yummy, yummy food.  The thumbprint cookies are a shortbread cookie and are kind of time consuming, but Paul LOVES them. : )

About a week ago I decorated the mantle for Easter.  I love the little Easter eggs I got from Target in their dollar section (except they were 2.50), I will definitely be using those in years to come.  I have been kind of slacking on crafts and have been watching tv instead, but I did make this heart thing the other day and I love it.  I smile when I see it hanging in my craft room. :) 

Paul works Saturday/Sunday (well actually he works thursday thru sunday) so I am going to Moses Lake for Easter, I miss my parents, I miss sunshine, I miss Moses Lake and the simplicity of it.  

Eric thinks he is allowed to sit on the dining room table, so like a responsible parent I took pictures of him before I kicked him off. Haha. 

The process of the iced cookies.  Yes I was sitting on the floor watching them in the oven for the last couple minutes. The recipe said not to let them brown, and since I needed watch them for the last couple minutes to make sure they didn't brown but that they cooked correctly. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and that Becca, you get some rest! You have been working a ton!