A time for change

Well, we are now temporarily a one income household. A week ago Friday, Jonathan was laid off from his job. It was something we knew was inevitable this year but weren't real sure when it would happen. Now we begin the long wait for an unemployment check. We are hoping and praying that by the time the Government gets around to sending us his first check, that Jonathan could be back to work. We don't know though. So far the only thing we have is that work could pick up mid spring.
On Monday, I gave Jonathan a weeks worth of Honey do's (straighten the garage up) and he also had his own list of things. When I came home Monday evening, he had managed to complete both lists. I said "my goodness babe, what are ya gonna do for the rest of the week?" So now, Jonathan has quite a bit of free time. A guy at church today says he might have some work for him to do maybe next week. So, if anyone needs some help right now, just let Jonathan know. If anything, just for something to do. I fear he might get a bit restless being at home all the time.
With me working, we are trying to get by with spending as little as possible from our savings. It's a lot of number crunching. We looked pretty silly at the grocery this week trying to shop on our shoestring budget. It's very hard to shop cheap when you are trying to still eat healthy. I tell ya, Aldi is the greatest thing since sliced bread!!! I asked the clerk that checked us out, "So has business been up?" she says, "Like you wouldn't believe". She said "we used to be the best kept secret". I suddenly didn't feel so silly with my calculator. When I looked up, I saw several others in the corners doing the same thing.
I called the satellite company on Saturday to cancel our cable, because there rates have recently gone up. They were so nice when I told them that we just couldn't afford there service any longer. The guy I talked to asked if I would be interested in cutting back to there "welcome package". 21 channels along with local channels for 14.99. He also decided to waive 2 of the silly fees that totaled $10. As he was reading off all the channels that we would now have, he then asked "so are there any channel's that you are looking for?" I asked, "is TLC on this package, it's my favorite?" ( I love watching the Duggar family) he says "no it's not". and that was that. We agreed to the new channels and the new rate and hung up. About 15 minutes later as we were flipping through our channels, we noticed the change had been made. I was a bit sad when I saw how few were left, until I saw that TLC had been added to our package. I was suddenly so happy I could have cried. I never asked for it, I was just curious if it was already included. The guy was listening and added it for free to our package. Now that I have my favorite channel, I couldn't care less about the others.

I refuse to see us as being victims of the economy. Instead, I am saying that like everything else, things happen for a reason. I believe God has thrown us this curve to make us evaluate our priorities in life. In the end, God and family are the only things that matter.

To lighten my spirits, I have posted this picture below of my Mom and Max. I thought this was just too cute. If you look closely, you can see his first tooth coming in on the bottom.
Those cheeks could never have too many kisses!!!!!!!!!!! :)

A Valentine's Day splurge

Yesterday we decided to make a day of Valentine's Day. We headed out about noon and ended up at The Greene in Beavercreek. We spent a few hours just walking in and out of stores and getting a few things. We then headed to The Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. We walked in at about 2:30 and had to wait 45 minutes for our table. I didn't really care how long the wait was. We both wanted this. Thanks to 2 years worth of gift cards from my brother and his wife for Christmas, we had every intention of splurging.
The hostess sat us at a really great secluded table, rather then the central tables that are practically on top of each other. We started out with what they call "small bites" of Fried Zucchini and Onion rings. This was anything but a small bite. Both were easily the best Fried Zucchini and Onion rings we had ever had. I then ordered the Combination Salmon and Chicken plate and Jonathan had the Philly Flank Steak that the server recommended. Both were melt in your mouth wonderful. After Jonathan had his second peach smoothie, we were both completely stuffed. The Cheesecake came with us to-go.
Normally we do not eat like this at restaurants, but since it was free and we never get to that part of town, we decided to go all out and spend all of our gift cards. It could be another 2 years before we make the effort to get over there again.
Jonathan's Philly Flank Steak along with his second Peach smoothie. His meal was really good. The steak was actually bigger then what the picture shows. It has a really great sauce along with a fancy bread underneath the steak collecting all the juices of the sauce and steak.

I had a combination platter of Herb Crusted Salmon, Madeira Chicken and a massive serving of mashed potatoes. All of this was wonderful but my favorite part of this dish were the sauces and the asparagus. I wish I knew how to cook my asparagus as perfect as there's was.

And these are the flowers Jonathan got me on Friday along with the cheesecake that came home with us.. Jonathan had the Peanut butter cookie dough Cheesecake and I had the Peanut butter Fudge Ripple Cheesecake. Both were awesome!!

Lesson for the day: Eating like this always comes back to haunt you.....

Fireproof

I have now made it a point to stop buying movies at the store. Since DVDs are going out and they just stack up around the house, I didn't want to buy anymore movies. Until now. We heard so much about this movie Fireproof that I became a mad woman tearing through the store to purchase this movie. I wanted to buy this movie without seeing it first. I just new this would be to good to not share with everyone.

I can honestly say that I have never been moved by a movie as much as I was moved by this one. I wouldn't call this an Oscar winning movie, but if they had an Oscar for actual content and life lessons, this would be it.
The brief synopsis (without ruining the movie) is a husband and wife whose marriage is on the skids and is heading for divorce. She wants a divorce because she is tired of his disrespect. He is simply tired of not being respected. Throughout the movie, with help, he is making the attempt to keep his marriage while she just wants out.
I don't think I can say much more then WOW!! An actual good movie without the swearing and racy content.
Jonathan had heard a bit about the movie and for a change I didn't have to tie him down or prod him to wake up. Of course I was a blubbering fool through the whole movie. Since we were sitting in the dark watching the movie, the only thing I heard from Jonathan's chair was "SNIFF SNIFF, SNIFF SNIFF. My husband who doesn't get the least bit emotional when it comes to movies, was actually SNIFF SNIFFING! Hopefully that is a good indicator to everyone else, as to how good it was.
I have now taken this movie to work and after driving everyone crazy by gushing over it so much, I now have 5 people from work who want to watch it. And I'm sure after they watch it, they will want to share it also. This is a real chance to minister to people with a subject that is universal. Whether you are married for 1 year or 50 years, dating or engaged or just dreaming of marriage, this is the movie for you. The subject is dealt with in a very real way and not too "Hollywood".
Just imagine all the work that can be done just by buying the movie and passing it around.

2 thumbs up for me!!

This and That

This week was pretty uneventful for us since there was no "weather event". Just business as usual.
Right now we are kinda thinking that our computer is getting ready to die on us. It's been frustratingly slow when logging on and also keeps telling us we have bugs. Once we realized this, we were kind of in a panic situation with our pictures. We have 1 1/2 years of pictures on our computer that have never been put to a disc. So, I stopped at the store this week and found some discs. We were never really sure how to do it, but once I started hitting some buttons, it was pretty self explanatory. I'm pretty sure we managed to get them saved.

Yesterday, I made a date with my 2 best girls, Karizma and Karma. I had fun once again spoiling them with a movie and dinner. We saw Hotel for Dogs, which was really cute. If you are a dog lover then you will really like it. When I asked them where they wanted to eat, I rattled off all of these nice restaurants that I thought they might like. But then Karma says, "Hey, there's McDonald's and HEY!!! look at that playland!!!" My attempt at a nice dinner for the 3 of us was foiled by Ronald. But then, when our dinner only came to 15 bucks for 3 dinners and ice cream, I thought to myself, "this isn't a bad deal after all". Once the girls had completely worn themselves out in the playland, it was time to head home.

Today, We haven't done much at all. We went to church and came home to a turkey breast in the oven along with mashed potatoes and veggies. I really love my new oven. The old one didn't have time bake. Now it's really nice to come home to the smell of my turkey already cooking in the oven.
Also, I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of the movie "Fireproof" that everyone at church keeps talking about. I think now I will sign off and watch it with Jonathan. I will provide my critique with my next entry. TTFN.

Meet Chuckles.......The Personal Assistant.

Meet Chuckles. He is the new personal assistant in training to Jonathan at Garber Electric. He was hired today when he did a great job of rolling around in the back yard. Chuckles has a great personality and a real way of helping out with snow. He only needs to roll around a few times and BAM! the snow is lifted off the ground.
Now that Chuckles is done rolling in the snow, he is moving to the streets with Jonathan. As you can see here, he seems to be really great at assisting with Jonathan's tools. I don't think there is a Snowman Union yet, so he should be fine with working the long hours with Jonathan.

YOU. That's right. YOU can also have your own personal assistant too. They are now available at my house. Just stop by and we can have one waiting for you. This is a great offer, so hurry! Offer good until snow supplies last.

See, not only a personal assistant but a great buddy too.

SNOW DAY!! SNOW DAY!!

Today, we decided to take a snow day. With me driving to Dayton and Jonathan working in Fairfield, there was no way we were going to brave the elements just to get to work.
Last night, Jonathan got a head start on the plowing of all this snow. We are pretty sure he plowed about 4 inches off the driveway before the next round of snow came in the middle of the night. By early morning we had another 5 inches in the driveway. When I had called into work to let them know I wouldn't be in today, Darke county was only at a level 2 emergency. By mid-morning, we were at a level 3-I no longer feel guilty for taking the day off. When the snow finally quit falling around 11:30am, we had a total of 8" in the driveway. Yes, that would make a total of 12 inches of snow in about a day and a half.
This is a picture of the at least a 3 foot high drift up against our back door.

Jonathan finally gets to give the Polaris a good workout. He is working hard at clearing our driveway.

This is the read we got from our yard stick in the driveway. This measures 8 inches of snow after he had already plowed 4 inches off the night before.

My husband. Always the good neighbor. This is neighbor #2 that he is helping to get plowed out. He just came inside to warm up. Since he loves the snow, I'm sure he will be back out there again later on today.

SPECIAL NOTE: One of the neighbors Jonathan just plowed out, just walked over to our house and gave Jonathan a fresh batch of Oatmeal Cookies. YUMMO!!

Dinner with Max and Co.

This weekend wasn't really eventful for us. Saturday, Jonathan worked up north with his dad and cousin again. I ran all the errands and did a few chores around the house
On Sunday, as we were walking out of church, it looked like a Sunday blizzard. A well known nickname that I have is Weather Wanda, because I am always on top of and worried about the weather forecast. Well, Weather Wanda missed this one!! We had made plans to meet my brother and sister-in-law for dinner after church. At a crawling pace, we finally made it to there house and headed to dinner.
We had a great time just chatting, playing with Max and watching the snow fall.

Happy 40th Anniversary Mother and Dad Yoder!!

Yesterday, we tried to pull a fast one over on Jonathan's parents. They were celebrating there 40th Wedding Anniversary. We decided to try to gather the family at Rob's Restaurant for an Anniversary Luncheon.
We were very fortunate to get Jonathan's brother Steve and his family to make a day trip up just for the event. We also got all of her brothers and there wives to show too. We had a great time just talking and catching up and eating really good food. Thanks to everyone for taking time out of there day to celebrate with us!!
Above is the beautiful cake we had made for them. Every flower was edible except for the Tiger Lilly. Thanks Linda for coming through for me again at the last minute!!

Here is the happy couple. Congratulations!

This is a picture of Jonathan's parents along with her brothers and there wives. In the center, keeping the restless crowd in line, is Grandpa Lavy.

Catching people with there mouths full. Thanks to the folks at Rob's Restaurant for there service in our private room and really great food. If you haven't been there yet, you should add it to your list.

9 to 5

Well, the Holidays are officially over. The tree is put away along with all other visual signs of Christmas in the house. I have been fortunate enough to have had quite a few days off in December from work. I am one of those annoying people who seem to save there vacation days until the end of the year, just in case.
Now that I feel sufficiently rested, it is now back to real life. "Workin 9 to 5" (or 8 to 5). I have to honestly say that I am a creature of habit, which means I missed my daily home/work routine. For some reason I seem to get more done in my day if there is a busier schedule (if that makes sense). I guess I am prone to put things off and procrastinate more if I have "nothing" to do at home.
Even though I am now back to the hustle and bustle of work, somehow the routine is comforting.

This could be a different story by about April or so. I will probably be tired of the 8 to 5 and ready for a spring Vacation!
I will start looking for a good song now!

Christmas Surprises

The ugly rooster above, if you recall, surprised my dad last New Years day. It "mysteriously" appeared on his front porch. Courtesy of my sister in Arizona. This year, the rooster made front row on the wall of fame. Notice the Santa hat and the bow around his neck. This Christmas, my dad sent my sister a very tacky frog which you can see on her blog link to the left for Wendy. Obviously the gifts are getting more and more tacky with each year. I can't wait until next year...
And these are the Christmas gifts that Jonathan and I decided to get each other. a new stove and refrigerator. We ended up getting various gift cards and cash for Christmas from other people. So the day after Christmas we headed out the door looking for a great deal. It ended up that Hansbargers had the best deal. Our old clunkers were hauled out on Friday and the new were brought in. As you can see, I am using the oven for the first time for my Chocolate Chip Cookies.
It also looks like Santa's UPS elves FINALLY arrived with Jonathan's Christmas present. I got Jonathan his first Telescope (upon request). We will be waiting for the warm weather before we take it out side. For now, we have it set up in the living room. I told him that instead of looking like a star gazer, he looked like the weirdo looking out the window. LOL!!