I found my new calling!

Since Josh and I took that Financial class last winter, and since we've learned how to budget and pay off debt...still working on the paying off part...I have been passionate about helping others learn to budget so that they don't have to stress about money! Now, my only subjects have been non-willing participants. By that I mean, I discuss with them how to budget and have even worked out a budget for someone one time. But that's about as far as it goes. No matter how excited I get and no matter how much I can see that a budget would help...non-willing. This evening however, there was a student who was withdrawaling from class. He is from the Phillipines. Now, some of you may or may not know my feelings with the Phillipines, but those feelings have somewhat passed. Anyway, he has 2 children back in the Phillipines. He works and normally 2 jobs so he can send money back to his family. He had to quit his second job because he was developing health issues from a lack of sleep. He started school so that he could better himself and hopefully get a better job. Apparently he was unable to send money back this past month and the mother of his children said he had to think about if he could really go to school and take care of his children. He is desperate to get a better job. He has his BS in Electrical Engineering. He has been over here for 6 years and is legal. He is just trying to figure out how to survive and support his family.

Onto my new calling...
Yes, it does have to do with the above story. I was discussing what his different payments were for different things as well as what his income was. (This is way above the call of duty for work...but my passion...remember!??!) I want to help LEGALS...not sure if that is PC...set up their resume, get a good job, budget their money and not get screwed when making purchases. Almost all of us are decendents of Immigrants. Why not help those who are willing to do it the correct and legal way to make a better life for themselves and their families?? Heck, I would help motivated, non-lazy citizens do the same thing! Now how do I make a living doing this??? Anyone?

A little bit of EVERYTHING!

So this is going to be a random blog of griping and complaining and laughing and letting you know what's going on!

1. 1st thing that comes to mind that has been bothering me for a few weeks are the toilets at work!! Yes, the toilets! 1st off, they don't make the stalls big enough for anyone! Not big enough for you to walk in and close the door! The toilets flush automatically. That is pretty exciting, EXCEPT...once I stand up the toilet flushes on its own. Not a big deal, except it is a SUPER flusher! And since the stall is not big enough, there is no room for me to get away from the SUPER flushing splash!!! So I stand, it flushes and I can either bend down to pull my pants up and get toilet water splashed in the face or I can stand there with my pants down and the toilet water splashes on my legs! Needless to say, I am not happy about either option but I tend to choose the latter! Argh!! And then, if I wanted enough room I could go in the handicap stall. I've done that a time or 2. Plenty of room to run from the SUPER flusher! The problem with this one is...it has a sensitive automatic flusher!!! So if I'm sitting there and move in the slightest to get some toilet paper, the damn thing flushes!!!! Once again making it impossible to run away!!!

2. I'm tired of lazy people! Granted, I am not always the most motivated but if I had no means to eat or live I think I'd be able to figure out how to make some money. Or if I spent $40-80k on a degree, I would like to use it and not continue to work at some random place! If I had a service that would send out my resume and get me interviews I would utilize it to the utmost!! Enough about that because I could go on for hours!

3. Everyone around me is PREGNANT!!! I'm so excited for all of them!! My mom tells me not to drink the water...but what if I want to??? "In due time" as Josh says!

4. St. Nick came to our condo! Not to Mom's, but to our place alone! New traditions with my new husband are lots of fun!!

5. I put up the Nativity set from Aunt Shirley and Uncle Andy! I absolutely love the manger that Uncle Andy hand made me! Too bad the only spot for it is in front of the fireplace! Josh has been wanting to use the fireplace, but it can wait!

6. We went to Wyoming for Thanksgiving and had such a great time with Lis and Kurt and our nephews! It was such a great time! I'm sad they're so far away, but am thankful for the time that we get to spend with them when we visit or they visit! Maybe they'll move out this way ;)

7. Courtney is getting married in less than a year! Luckily she was able to see all the things NOT to do from watching me and my wedding! And luckily I got to see how much she helped so I could see how much I was supposed to do! I think we are going to have our hands full :) It's going to be so much fun!!

8. Ton is making us a blanket chest...that is his wedding gift to us! And maybe Christmas gift! The amazing thing is that the wood he is using is the beam from our old church hall! This is wood that is over 100 years old...maybe 150, I can't remember! But it will be awesome!! Why wouldn't it be...it's from Ton!

That is all for now!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

We leave for Wyoming on Sunday morning! I'm so excited to go see the boys! I'm not so excited about how cold it's going to be!! It will definitely be nice to get away from work for a while! I feel like I haven't seen much of Josh at all! He's been working like CRAZY and my hours have been crazy as well! Hopefully it will calm down after we get back! We'll see!

I can't wait to come back and get our 1st Christmas tree! Mom brought up the stand last weekend! Woohoo for Christmas decorating!! I need to get my nativity set from Mom's! I have no idea where we're going to put any of this!

I really don't feel like fighting the crowds this Christmas! If I knew what I wanted to get people, I would so shop online! I guess I'll have to come up with a list!

Blah...I do not want to pack! I have always hated packing! I wish you could just point and it would fold and jump in the suitcase! But yay for flying! I always get a little nervous, but as I told Josh...planes are magical!! Kinda like a time machine! You get in the thing in your city and then just a short time later...*POOF*...your a couple thousand miles from home, in a land that is unlike yours! Not that Wyoming is crazy far away, but the scenery is different than Indiana. Same with Alabama, or Vegas, or LA...it's really neat that you can see many different terrains in the different countries. Well, I've only seen the different terrain in our country...but I plan to, some day, venture out!

Update...

So it's been a little while since I've updated this! So here we go...

Our Wedding day was PERFECT!! It was a gorgeous day with no rain! The only issue was that it was 80 something degrees in October! I was sweating to DEATH!! But it was a wonderful time anyway! Our photographer just updated us and said we should be getting our proofs this week! Yay!! I was lucky enough to have lots of friends and family take LOTS of pictures!! Thank you so much!! They are gorgeous!!

Josh and I went on a mini honeymoon to...Kentucky and North Carolina. I say Kentucky because NC is about a 7 hour drive, but we stopped on the way down and on the way back in KY so we didn't have to do the whole drive! It was a nice relaxing trip! We needed that! Poor Josh was sick the whole time, so I don't think he was able to enjoy it as much as he would have if he were healthy! We will have to go back some other time! It was gorgeous down there!

Married life is GREAT! It's lots of fun and sometimes hectic trying to learn to live with someone and intertwine your lives! I've had plenty of roommates, but when we lived together we usually did our own thing! Yes, we did things together and sometimes quite often, but trying to plan dinner and doing darn near everything together is completely different! But it's lots of fun!! We're really loving puting our own touches on the condo! It is definitely feeling like home and like it's ours!

Work for the both of us has been crazy!! This has been Josh's busy time and so he is swamped at work. And for me having a new boss trying to bring in new processes...that's definitely hectic! But it's going good!

Our 1st halloween as a married couple was kind of sad! I was disappointed that we didn't really have anywhere to go. All of our friends were doing something on their own and we couldn't make it to any family member's in time for trick or treating. I finally decided we were going to hand out candy! So I asked Josh to go get some candy while I put on a costume! He got back and I was ready and waiting for the trick or treaters...wouldn't you know it....not a single kid!!!! I was soooooo sad!! We'll have to make better plans for next year!

That's all that's going on here! I'll try to keep this updated a little more than once a month!

Let's hope it stays this way...

The forecast for next week is as follows:

Monday 10/6: Partly Cloudy

Tuesday 10/7: Partly Cloudy

Wednesday 10/8: Isolated Thunderstorms

Thursday 10/9: Few Showers
Friday 10/10: Showers

Saturday 10/11: Partly Cloudy

Sunday 10/12: Showers

On a more exciting note...we got our Papal Blessing in the mail today!! I didn't think it would come until after the wedding, but it came early! For those that don't know, a Papal Blessing is a Blessing from the Pope! He blessed our marriage! Yay!!

8 days left!

Bachelorette Party!

I've been wanting to post some pictures from the Bachelorette Party, but I was waiting for some of my friends to post pictures so I'd have more than 10 to post! But those girls must be as busy as I am because they haven't posted any. So this is what we got so far!

I had such a good time! We went to the Cheesecake Factory, Got our Nails done, went shopping for dresses, got ready at my place and then went to the Wine Bar and then to the Alley Cat! 2 completely different ends of the spectrum! They were both a lot of fun! Not sure that all of the Alley Cat Patrons were all that excited to have a Bachelorette Party there...but the bartender and Louie sure didn't mind!! I don't have any pictures of those 2...maybe later!

Not real sure what I was explaining here!

All of the girls who were at the Cheesecake Factory...minus Karen who was taking the picture!

I was sooooo ready for the Cheesecake portion of the afternoon!

At the salon getting our nails done!

Robyn getting her pedicure! Notice the little paper cup...they let us bring in some wine and drink it! Too bad we didn't know that before hand! We would've gotten champagne glasses...or not!

This is Karen getting her pedicure!! She's so excited!

Me and Mandy relaxing! That was the fastest pedicure EVER!! But Man was not too happy that they didn't do it the right way!

So...a couple of the girls wanted to go to the liquor store right next door. They decided I needed 2 little shooters! From the next few pictures you will see why one of the shooters is in Josh's car...UNOPENED!

Thinking about drinking the rest of it! BLECK! Vodka!

And the result of drinking the rest! BLECK! Vodka!Out at the Wine Bar! This place ROCKED!

Me and my Maid of Honor, Courtney!

Robyn and Sarah having a good time at the Wine Bar!

Rachel and Courtney!

2 "Brides to Be" Me and Karen at the Wine Bar!

Karen loves me!! The 1st night Josh and I actually hung out we stayed at Kyle's and the air matress contained Josh, me and Karen! We all 3 slept together that night!! It was a GOOOOOOOD night ;)

Ah...the Alley Cat! My 1st time there! Great times were had by all!

Back together again...causin trouble and running around! I did a little more stumbling than running though! Wouldn't have made it to the car without ya Rach!!

I was hoping I wasn't going to need to go tanning before the wedding, but after seeing these pictures I realize that I probably can't get away with it! Drat!

Couple's Shower

Ok, so we started a little thing in our family called a Couple's Shower. This is kinda more like a shower for the groom. It's a fun shower where guys are invited along with their ladies and there is some beer drinking and card playing and present opening going on! We had such a good time! Aunt Kay made her WONDERFUL chili! And then we had some ice cream cake and chocolate cake. We then opened some presents!

Here's Mandy, Michael and Sherry before we started to open presents.

This was from Aunt Mary Ellen! She thinks she's so funny. Apparently Josh thinks so too!

Apparently I needed some old tennis shoes of mine that were sitting on Mom's deck for FOREVER! Now we get them back! SWEET!
Now, for those of you who know Josh, you know that he likes to wear BROWN and BLACK and sometimes a dull color. So as a gift to me, my mom bought some colorful shirts for Josh to wear. He'll probably ONLY wear them on our honeymoon, but that's alright by me :)

Look at that pretty orange and green!!

Granny gave us a "Last Supper" plaque and a Crucifix.

Here's the Crucifix.

Derek and Sherry gave us some good Kitchen tools and a basket to keep them in!Mom gave Josh some tequilla with a note that said, "Remember, tequilla makes Jen's clothes fall off!" That'll be good for the honeymoon too!

Mom also gave me a crockpot so that I could make some food for Josh! Poor Josh, he starves to death right now because I don't cook!

1 month?

I seem to be only updating this about once a month. I'm going to try to get a little better at this! I have some fun pictures of the Couple's Shower and some of the Bachelorette Party! I want to put them up, but I dont' see that happening today. I'll be sure to put them up, hopefully sometime this week.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend! Our's was nice, but we drove forever!! We went to see Josh's dad and that's a 4 1/2 hour drive one way! It was good to see him though and we always get to relax while we're up there!!

I'll write a little more later. I have a new boss at work so I'd better do some work!

Bridal Shower

Ok, so my Bridal Shower was this past Saturday. Josh's mom flew his sister in from Wyoming to be here for it! That was so great! I really enjoyed her being out here!

So my mom had made note of the things she liked and disliked when going to some of the bridal showers in the past. She took those mental notes and put them to use for my party! She and my Aunts and Bridesmaids did such a great job with the whole thing! The decorations were gorgeous and everything went so smoothly!

This is the cake my mom had made for me! Tinker Bell in the middle. Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Cinderella and Belle!

We ate before everyone got there so that we could greet them at the door! When everyone arrived, they got to eat and I went to open presents as they ate. My mom isn't a big fan of silly games at these things, so we only had 2! We had HER favorite game...if there is writing on the bottom of the plate, you win a prize! And then we had one more...Josh's mom had a list of questions about Josh. I had to answer the questions. If I got it wrong, I had to stick a piece of bubble gum in my mouth! I think I missed 4 or 5 questions! My jaw was sore by the end of the shower! This is the big wad I had in my mouth!

This is what it looked like as I was chewing! Ok...so maybe I exaggerated a bit! And the apron is one that Josh made for his mom in HomeEc and now she gave it to me!

I got so many wonderful gifts! I can't wait to get them all in our condo and use them! I had such a fun time!

I also had my 1st dress fitting before my shower! I am getting so excited for the wedding! Not that I wasn't before, but it's getting close!! 61 days!

Playing Catch Up!

So we're almost through July and let me tell you...it has been CRAZY!! Wedding stuff has been keeping us busy! Not just my wedding stuff, but we still have 2 more weddings to attend before our's gets here! And with that comes Bridal Showers and Bachelorette Parties...mine and the other 2!! On top of that, I have to work as many weekends as possible because there are going to be A LOT in the next few months that I can't work! ARGH!! And it doesn't help that our Director/Boss switched companies, leaving just myself and Tara to man the office.

Anyway, so we have 75 days left! EEK!! I think I'm getting to the point that Josh has been at for like 3 months now! Is it time for this wedding yet??? I'm ready to get this things going!! There still seems like there's so much to do! Mom should be getting the invitations ordered in the next day or so, so I can start addressing those. Still have to come up with a center piece idea...NOT EXPENSIVE!! I had this cute one that we were renting, but it turned out to be a little more than we need to spend. Actually, everything seems to be a little more than we need to spend! And I still need to get the programs put together, but we can't do that until Father gives us the book so we can pick out songs and readings. And I thought he would give that to us when were finished meeting with him, but that may not be for a while! ARGH! AND the dress place said the bridesmaid dresses wouldn't be in until Mid-September. Do they know that my wedding it October 11th?!?!?!?!? If they aren't in by the beginning of September, there's going to be some issues!!

Other than that, everything's great! My bridal shower is in 2 weekends and I can't wait to see everyone! Things just keep coming!

Josh is doing well at work. He should be getting a position title name change sometime in the near future, which will make him a Process Engineer! YAY!! Otherwise he's just busy trying to keep me calm and not stressed! He does a great job at that! We got to stay in Indy this past weekend and that was nice! But the next 2 weekends we're out of town and busy for like the next 8 weekends...whether it be here in Indy or somewhere else throughout the state! EEK! AND...Josh's sister IS DEFINITELY coming for my bridal shower! We're both so excited!! YAY!!

Ok, that's all for now!

Our weekend

I hope everyone had a good 4th! We had a fun time visiting family and playing games! Every year for the 4th my family goes to my Aunt and Uncle's farm to mingle and play games. It's a long held tradition! It started out the July before my mom was born back in 1957 on my grandparent's farm. It's pretty much like a family reunion. My Grandma and Grandpa's siblings and their offspring come and get together for the annual softball game. We play softball in a Cornfield. Everyone plays! If you can walk, you're playing! Little kids are freebies though! After we play that we come back on the hay wagon and the grilling begins! After we eat we play sack races, wheel barrow races and tug of war! This year my cousin Nick started a new game. We started a Euchre tournament! Too bad I got out in the 1st round! Josh and his partner made it to the last round, but were beaten by my cousin Jessica and Aaron! Nick gave out trophies and they won the prize money! After all of that, we do sparklers for the little kids and when it gets dark the older boys start to light off fireworks! Every year it is a great time! This year was no exception!

Saturday Josh and I helped Mom scrape the house. We did that ALL day long! And then prepared for meeting with our priest the next day. Sunday we scraped...or Josh and Mom scraped for a little while. I needed a NAP from the long weekend!

All in all it was a great weekend! Quite a bit of wedding stuff was accomplished! This month is going to be crazy with wedding stuff! Poor Josh! The good news...I think Josh's sister will be able to come out for my bridal shower! I'm so excited and I know Josh can't wait to see her and Triston (his nephew)! AND I just scheduled my 1st dress fitting! EEK! I new it would start going fast after we got into the double digits, but there's LOTS to do!

Hope everyone has a great week!

A little bit of everything...

It's almost time to get out of here! I'm excited for that, but I don't want to go mess with the traffic! I have such road rage! Good thing I'm a calm person and I only do the yelling in my car so that no one hears me! I may have to have Josh drive down to Mom's tonight. I'll be flustered enough just trying to get home from work!

That's something I need to work on...by the time I get home, I'm so frustrated from the traffic that I forgot that I was excited to get home and have Josh come over! And by the time he gets over to the condo he's ready to be in my face kissing me and giving me attention...which I LOVE! I just need to calm down from the drive because being aggravated from that and then having Josh immediately in my face is a bad combination! By the time I calm down from the drive and am ready for the attention, he's ready to relax and not pay as much attention to me! Stinkin!

Anyway, so we're heading down to Mom's tonight to help with some cooking for the 4th. We will definitely be doing some scraping while we're down there. Mom has 2 sides of the house to scrape and paint BEFORE the wedding! ARGH! For some reason we're doing the easy, not so visible side 1st...my brother's good idea. Anyway, Josh will be a pro at scraping and painting by the time the wedding comes!

I can't wait to play softball and eat all the good food tomorrow! It's supposed to rain, but I hope not during our softball game! It rained last year but not until it was dark and time for fireworks...but the fireworks must go on and they did! So I'm sure they will again this year!

100 days until the wedding! Tomorrow we will be down in the double digits...WOOHOO!!!

Have a great weekend!

Starting a little EARLY...

So I've been wanting to start a blog on here for a while, but was going to wait until I had the family thing going...and by that I mean married! Since that's still 101 days away, I've decided to start it now!

Right now were in the middle of wedding planning...or maybe we're a little more towards the end! All the big stuff is taken care of and now it's just the little details mostly. I'm trying to get the guest list finalized and need to finish getting the rest of the addresses from Mom and Josh. July is going to be a busy month of trying to start on the finishing touches. I know Josh is ready for all this to be done and over with! He just wants to get to the married part! He wants it to be the day after the wedding so he can relax and be done hearing about all the wedding stuff! Poor boy, he still has a little ways to go!

Work is going well for both Josh and me! We're both pretty busy and enjoy what we're doing! I am excited about the 4th of July and glad tomorrow is the last day of the work week this week! I can't wait to go eat all the good food and play all of the fun games!

Have a great 4th and be safe!