Spring pics

The photo challenge last week was spring. I didn't have a productive week - it started out with me falling hard as we started to leave for the cake tasting. Thankfully, it was on my way back in the house to get my camera and not with the camera in my hand. It was rainy and a little sleet and snow were joining in. My boots were slick and I fell in the foyer. I hurt the same foot that I hurt last year. This time I added in my ankle, knee and lower back. Joy Anna gave me a gift card for a massage. That really helped me a lot. My foot was better. I even went to the gym yesterday. I needed to go again today, but I didn't. I should have, because later this evening, Dean bumped into my toe - talk about agony. It hurt for hours. I am still not feeling great. I can't sleep either.

Anyway, I didn't get out much for photos last week, so here are my spring pics.

And another week has passed us by

And still no job! There have been a few 'bites' but no one has reeled him in. We are hoping soon.

I think I need to job hunt. At this rate, even if he gets a job, I am not sure how we are going to pay for the wedding. We are being really frugal - making a lot of things ourselves. Thankfully, I can do the invites and program design myself. We ordered paper. We just have to pay now to have them printed. We are making the boutonnieres and corsages. We will do the bouquets and centerpieces using recycled jars and inexpensive flowers. I was able to take her bridal portraits.

We had a cake tasting last week. She wants it very simple, so that is helping with the cost of the cake. She really is being great about doing everything low cost and as much do it ourselves as possible. We still have to finish paying the costs of the venue and food.

We had so much fun taking her pics. I wish I could show you, but I can't. She did say, I could show one teaser.

what to do?

We've been plodding along with the job hunt. We have had three 'potential short term jobs' brought to his attention.Only one of those has had any movement in the past couple of weeks. So, we keep going.

Last week, he got an email from a man he worked with. He had referred Dean for a job. The company emailed him, and it seems like it would be a decent job. We filled out the required information, but there has been no response.

This morning we work up to an email from another company - with a request for a very detailed questionnaire to be completed and sent back to them as soon as possible.Needless to say, we got it take care of very quickly. While we were finishing up that, he got a phone call asking him to come for an interview this afternoon at 4.  Well, ok. So, he went to the interview. He was there about 15 minutes. He has what they want as to things he has been doing on Bliss.

Here, is where we are torn. He needs job- of that there is no doubt.

Should both jobs we worked on today offer, how would we choose?One would be more like he would like, the other would probably pay more. One would be here for only about 8 months, before we would have to move again - hopefully, they would have a place for him and we would be able to stay with the same company. One would be a permanent position with a national company for retail stores. The other doing roads and things along those lines where he has no real interest. 

The one from this afternoon sounds like they really might be interested in him. It is an all administration job- no contact with the projects, no seeing a project to completion.

Praying for the right offer and the right decision.

This post was from last Tuesday. I guess I forgot to hit publish

2 weeks - how much longer

When I started my new blog - this one - I determined I would not be negative. That was before Dean got laid off. I am trying to stay positive.

It has been two weeks. His two weeks severance ended yesterday - now we are signed up on unemployment, but it is not even close to enough to survive on.We never dreamed it would be this long. Now, I am second guessing everything. We shouldn't have gone to Phoenix that weekend. Should I get a job?How are we goign to pay for the wedding? What are we supposed to do?

Prayers are really needed and appreciated.

We took a day off

I haven't posted because I haven't had anything to share. There is nothing new on the job front.  I have not exactly been eating the healthiest. It is harder when he is home and I have to come up with three meals a day.He doesn't like the foods on the 17 day diet. I don't want to have to cook 2 different meals for a total of 6 a day. So, we have just been eating normal food- good food. I have tried to eat less. It doesn't always work.

Sunday, we took the day off. After Sunday School, we went with our friends Lee and Dana, who happen to be Jeremy's parents, to the wineries in New Mexico. We visited three wineries and a biker bar before ending up at St Clair Winery - it is not like the other as it is more like a restaurant. We had planned to just visit it and then head on to La Posta for dinner, but after getting in and checking out the menu, we decided to dry dinner there. It was great. Not overly expensive. We started with a cheese tray - different than any we had had before:Sage Derby, Raspberry Port, Pimento cheese, blue cheese and brie - colorful and yummy. Next, we had green chili mac and cheese. Then, we moved on to dinner. I had a french onion soup and a yummy salad, and Dean had a steak. Josh, Jeremy's brother had a burger with yummy fries. The meal was really good and actually very reasonable. It was nice being away - no job hunting for the day. Not really even stressing over it.

I did take few pics over the course of the day. Gold was last week's photo challenge and this week is Green.

 The wine above is "Miss B Havin" at Zin Valle.The one below is a Sparkling Muscat La Dolce Vina from La Vina

 The only green on the vine! ^^^

 

 I thought the "Hot Dog on a Stick" cup was funny in there. The pic below was my favorite of the day.

Next week, the challenge is Spring, but I liked it anyway :)

I don't like Roller Coasters

I have never been a big fan of roller coasters. If I must, I can usually stomach the Mini Mine Train and even the Runaway Mine - but only if I have to. Once, on a trip to Six Flags, I rode that indoor one. It was a have to - Dean was with Eric, Bill was with Ryne, and I had to ride with Sarah - her mom has back trouble and she watched the two youngest. So, that was not fun for me - I don't like the not knowing what is ahead - don't like the sudden drops - don't like the really fast slamming into the really slow. Nope, I don't like them at all.

I think that is what makes the last few weeks/months so difficult. I feel like I am on a roller coaster.

I don't know what is ahead. I don't like the sudden drops into situations over which we have no control. I don't like how Dean gets a call about a position that he must hurry up and call, hurry up and send information, hurry up and look for a place to live, to have it all suddenly slammed into either a complete stop or a s-l-o-o-o--w down and wait situation. Nope, I don't like it at all.

A roller coaster only lasts a short time - we know that there is only a set distance on a ride. We don't know how long this is going to last. We don't have a picture of the track. We just keep riding.


I know that a lot of this is lack of control- I don't have control over the situation. Dean doesn't have control over the situation.

God has control - do I trust him to handle it? Can I let it go? What does letting go in this situation look like?

This, for me, is the hardest of those questions - what does letting go look like in this situation? We have sent out thousands of resumes/applications. Do we stop and let those work through the system? Do we stop spending hours every day searching websites looking for a job?

What does letting go look like?

Still no leads

Dean being home surely makes things different. I don't think I am going to be able to stay on the 17 day diet - I am going to just have to really be careful, eat smaller portions, etc. With him home, I can't really cook that many different meals. He doesn't like what I am cooking for the program. It is ok. I can do it. I will just eat much smaller portions of the foods that I can fix for him. I need to go back to the gym. I know that makes a huge difference. If my foot didn't hurt, it would be better.

We have applied at so many places this week. Frustrating.

I think I am going to really have to go out and find something. At least part time. Something to have money coming in will be a good thing.

Nogales and Tombstone and the drive home

Dean and I walked around in downtown Nogales. Nogales is even closer to the Mexico than El Paso – that sounds weird , since they are both border towns. The difference is that here we have the river bed between. There, all that divides is the border fence. It is almost like they came in and built the fence right through neighborhoods or in the middle of a shopping center.  Roads just end at the fence. The pic below shows the fence rising up behind the town.

 Loved the old Woolworth's sign. It is my gold pic for the photo challenge, too.

 Not thinking the owl did much good.

 The fence again. Below is the museum.

Walking downtown reminded me of walking downtown El Paso in a lot of ways. There are the same kinds of stores. The attitude is different. It is hard to put into words, but there was a difference. 

After we walked around downtown, we headed east. We were going to check out the small towns along the border.

 I guess it was being a Monday, as there were not as many things open until we got to Tombstone. We walked around and enjoyed the local flavor. Dean was pretty disappointed as he wanted it to be a real ghost town- sort of like the Bradys found on their summer vacation. Nope, Tombstone is a bustling town.

I am a historical romance junkie. I like them from all time periods. I do enjoy Westerns – school marms, saloon girls, ranchers, horses, gunfighters.  Yeah, I like them. While we were walking I was soaking the sights and sounds. I enjoyed listening to Dean’s boots hit the board walk. I liked the bustling crowds and the occasional jingle of spurs- it would have been better had there been more boots, rustling calicos, horses and wagons going by in the streets, people calling to their friends, hats being tipped – can you actually hear that? I still enjoyed listening to it and imagining what it would have been like back in the day. 

We went back to the cemetery and browsed around. Interesting. I missed the original stones- all of them were reproductions. I was hoping to at least some in a museum type exhibit with some of the originals. Oh well, it was still interesting to read the history of the people who are buried there.

We headed further east. I wish we could have stopped at Bisbee. It looks like an amazing little town to visit. I think Dean and I will try to figure out a time when we can go back. I wish I could describe it – built on a hill that is full of copper. Copper has been mined here for so long. The colors in the earth surrounding it are unbelievable –  imagine all the colors of all the patinas of copper melded together on the hills. Beautiful.  I would love to have been there on a beautiful day. We should have stopped even for one or two photos, but honestly, it was too overwhelming. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop. I decided it was better to plan a trip back, where I can spend time and enjoy it.

There was beautiful scenery everywhere. I wanted to stop so many times, but there are no shoulders. A good portion of the time, we were very close to the border in very deserted areas. For miles and miles and miles the only vehicles we saw were border patrol. Not the most comforting place to stop. 

Once again, those old historical romances came to mind. I could just imagine the cowboys and indians riding over the hills. The ranchers and the rancher's daughters. Yep, I could see it all as we drove.

 This only has a small amount of flowers - some were completely covered in flowers, but I couldn't stop.

We didn't hear anything about the job in Nogales. We called several times, but we didn't even get a call back. No news ever. It gets so frustrating. 

As for the 17 day diet, I didn't do wonderfully, but I did better than I would have had I not been on the program. I will be back on it full time when I am back home. 

Rangers at Spring Training.

We had a lot of fun at the game. We bought matching caps. We cheered for the Rangers, and we groaned over bad plays. The crowd was interesting. It was much quieter than regular games. Dean said it is because there were more snow birds than fans. Maybe so. The park was small enough that it felt up close and personal.

Nolan Ryan was there. He seems like such a classy gentleman.

Dean is not a big fan of Washington. He thinks he doesn't always make the wisest decisions.

We had great seats - row 12 behind the dugout. You could tell a lot of people were just there for the event and not the game - they couldn't sit still - I have never seen adults get up and down so many times. Not sure why they couldn't wait until the Royals batted. No, they weren't Royals fans.

The guys walked in from the field house which is actually in right field.

This 

This was all we saw of the new pitcher. We were hoping to at least see him pitch an inning, but that didn't happen. Oh well, maybe we will get another opportunity.

 These two pics make me smile - and give me a serious case of lens envy.

Before the game, they inducted into the Summer League Hall of Fame. Beltre was inducted because of his award during the regular season. 

 Michael Young was inducted because he was the only one of both teams to have been a player at all 10 spring seasons.

 

Napoli getting ready to catch. 

 

 Moreland's home run - only score of the game

 This little cute is on America's got talent. He did a good job on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!"

And the final score