A lot going on this week!

Alot happening this week, so I thought I should document all the happenings...

Amber had her baby!!! Emmalynn Marie Carter was born June 29. This was the first time I have held a newborn baby in a looonnnggg time. But she was so precious. Really made me want one of my own. My time will come, but for now, I look forward to baby sitting Emmalynn whenever Amber needs a break.

15 pounds... GONE!

I don't see it yet in pictures. But I feel it when my clothes are getting a little loose. Its been a struggle the past couple of weeks, the one Dr. Pepper I have had tasted way too sweet. I couldn't even finish the can! I'll stick to water and juice... Sweets have been really tough to get rid of totally. But I have gone down on them. Exercise... I hate right now. I do about half an hour of cardio before I go to bed at night. I want to eventually go out on walks with my husband. Its just really hot outside, so the motivation to be outside exercising is really hard to find. I guess I will get used to it eventually. But for now the cardio thing is working for me.

Davids papaw is in the hospital as I type this. He will be having surgery, removing one of his lungs today. I am definitely praying for him right now. His parents are in Shreveport for support. I hope everything goes well. He's a strong stubborn man, I'm sure he will get through this. The Lord has his hands around him, I'm sure. In spite of all that, me and Davie are trying to enjoy the house to ourselves for a couple of days. Its hard, knowing that all this is going on. If it wasn't for me having to be at work, I'd be right there at the hospital waiting with them.

Carrots and hummus. Yup!

So I'm officially on a diet. I'm tired of the "I'll go on a diet" and two weeks later I veer off track and totally go on a new path of "I don't care anymore". Nope. Those days are long gone. I have to get serious and really start losing the weight. Why? I have polycystic ovarian syndrome. And if you know anything about that, it takes a TON more to lose the weight, and its even tougher to have a baby if you are overweight. Sooo.... its about time I get serious about this. Davie and I would love to have a baby, but we have considered adoption as an option if it can't happen. I think the reason I'm more focused about this weight loss this time, is because its not just about me now. Its about having a family, its not just about me anymore.

Starting weight: 305

1 week of dieting: 297

Update... again.

I hate it when I forget about this thing and have to update for months. I'm just not going to do that this time. I'm just going to give a short list of what has happened since.

Davie quit the truck driving, now we are paying off $6,000 for the next 3 years to pay for his driving school. Now he has a great job at Fritz Plumbing that will be offering full benefits! Yah!

I have since found a job at East Dallas Printing, hanging on by a string. The workflow for me has been a lot to handle, but I'm hoping I'm improving in my bosses eyes enough for me to stay. But really, I'm fully prepared and really won't be hurt if they let me go. Its really stressful, but I'm trying my best to be grateful for what I have. Its a job and its a paycheck. I really don't have much room for complaint.

Lately, I have been getting really into couponing. I love it when I save $40 on a grocery trip, its like getting half my groceries for free! And if I can keep up with this thing, you will hear more about my saving adventures!

We just came back last weekend from Jefferson. We kind of didn't want to leave. Ok we really didn't want to leave. At all. It was so relaxing. Just take a look at the photo below. That was at Caddo Lake. Beautiful, right?

February

So far, this has been an interesting month. In the past couple of weeks, I have lost both of my jobs, it has snowed twice, our pipes froze and we lived without running water for 4 days, and Davie has started school for his CDL license.

I hate that I'm on the job hunt again, because its so draining. But on the other hand, I am proud of Davie, he's doing so well with the truck driving, he's already passed all the written portions, now he's training to actually drive the truck. Both of us are anxious for him to actually get on the road and start earning money. But, I'm not ready for him to leave for weeks at a time yet. That one is going to be tough for me. I plan on using this blog as another way of him not missing a thing. This way, he can see pictures and find out whats going on around the home front.

Not much else to say right now. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, I'm going to go back to bed and crochet a little bit more.

Changes

I had such a relaxing weekend. 4 whole days of nothing really to do. After the past couple of months I had? It was greatly needed. But I did find myself getting bored very quickly. I hate that about me. I want the fast pace, but when it comes down to it, I'm pooped! I'm trying to lose the weight so I wouldn't get so tired and sore after a single day's work on my feet. My last day at Belk was on Friday. I really wish there was a spot open for me. A lot of people were shocked that I was one of the people that went, I told them, "Me too." So here I am, looking for a permanent job. The gig at the Morning News, is only temporary. As much as I would like to stay here full time, I just don't think there will be enough workflow to let me stay. But who knows, surprises can happen.

They did this morning.
Davie has made the decision to be a truck driver! He will be with USA Truck, and he starts training in February. I have to take a deep breath and prayer every time I think about it. But we really have to face the facts that trucking will always be there. In the job section of the paper, there are always listings. Who knows? This may be a change for the better. I just have to think of him having a stable job. Thats all we really want for him. He is so bored from not working. He also got a call from a plumbing company and they are heading down to Eagle Pass, TX in the wee hours of the morning for a job down there. It should last about 3 weeks or so. At least its something to bring in money, because who knows what February holds for us. I am trying not to worry about all this. But its so hard. I have to think about how good all this is. He is earning money some way or another so all these bills can get paid for. I'm tired of pushing bills back, its getting old.

2010 Flashback

January
We had finally moved into our house in Oklahoma, in the middle of a winter blast happening all over the USA. I had never seen so much snow in my life! We literally spend our New Years moving back and forth. My job search continued while my husband waited on the weather to clear for the extension to a college he was set to work on, good thing he was getting paid salary. It wasn't until the end of January until he worked. January was a month of settling down and unpacking. I enjoyed our house! The large kitchen, the large backyard for our dog, the garage. It was heaven! I joined Avon, in hopes to find new friends in the neighborhood. Changed our phone number to Oklahoma area. And had my first fire scare while making homemade donuts!

February
The job search continued. We had our first Valentines Day as a married couple. I made a big deal out of it, cooking a special breakfast with heart shaped everything. Then had a candle light dinner. It was perfect! This is around the time I was thinking about going to school to broaden my horizons. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to school and re-learn web design or go into a whole new career, like culinary school. ...

March
Officially changed my last name to Pitt. The job search continued... and ended up getting hired at Walmart in town. And I got accepted into Platt College's pastry arts program. I was so excited to start in June! It was going to be a turning point in my life!

April
A life changing month for us. Everything was going fine. I was content working at Walmart and actually enjoying getting to know the town. We switched cell phone carriers from AT&T to TMobile for cheaper rates. I had made the decision to switch cars with my mom, in leu of lower bills, that was big decision, I loved that Jeep. And all these decisions were made because he had lost his job. So we had to make the bold decision to say goodbye to the small town of Mustang move back to Dallas.

May
Tornado weather in Oklahoma... not fun! So thankful for our understanding landlord who let us break our lease early. The entire month was a scramble to pack up the house, sell the things we didn't want to move, find a new place to live, and try and transfer my job to a Walmart in the Dallas area. Here's what ended up happening: we ended up putting our stuff in storage and moving into my parents dining room, the transfer process to switch Walmarts was a bust because nobody was hiring.

June
A hard month. Both of us were looking like crazy for jobs. Ended up getting food stamps to help out with groceries at my parents house. My unemployment had run out. And his unemployment had just started. He would find little temp cash jobs, but nothing permanent. I had interviews that went nowhere. Our dogs were getting in fights, adding to the stress of us being in an already full house. Needless to say, we wanted to get out on our own... fast.

July
I finally landed a job! I started working for A2Z Sports, a high school t-shirt company. That job gave me a ton of creative freedom. David was still looking for a job though, no companies were hiring around the Dallas area, so he started broadening his search to out of town. And with my new job, we decided it was time to find a place of our own. So we were on the search to find anything in our budget. And we ended up finding a place in east Dallas in a mobile home community. And with the help of my mom, we were able get on a lease for a 3 bedroom 2 bath mobile home!

August
It was pretty uneventful. I continued work with A2Z, he continued his job search. My brother turned 21! It was pretty much spent moving our things out of storage and into our new place and unpacking. At this point, I hated moving.

September
In order to help out both of us, his parents decided to move in with us. Where they were staying, the rates were getting too expensive, and we could use the help with the rent. So they moved into our guest bedroom. Experienced a tornado try to form over us. His job search continues...

October
Here's where things got interesting. It started off great. My boss at A2Z decided I would be better working from home, and let me take the work computer home with me as well. Great! Only 3 weeks later, the company was bought out. I was offered a temporary graphic artist position with the new company, but there was no promise to keep me after the new year. So here I was again. Both of us, no jobs and still scrambling. Luckily, his mom knew there were open positions at Belk, so I applied and 2 days later. I got the job working in the intimates department.

November
It got a little crazier this month. Ok a lot. Just as I started work with Belk, the Dallas Morning News had asked me back to freelance. So I got with the freelance company and we worked out a deal. I work Tuesday thru Thursday at the Morning News, then the rest of the time at Belk. And if its not crazy enough, my ongoing time of the month had gotten way worse. So bad, it was going through the tampon and pad. Without going into the gory details, it was messy. So I was forced to miss work and go to Parkland hospital and wait all day for them to figure out what is wrong with me. And since I had no insurance, I was able to set up with the city's health program. Turns out, it was just prolonged menses. They gave me a wonder pill that got rid of it. But Thanksgiving started the gruelling side effect of cleaning my system out. It got way worse for a week. An entire week of not working. I ended up buying Depends, but the day I bought them, it decided to run dry. My luck!

December
I'm exhausted just writing this! Davie's birthday! He turned 27. I continued going to the follow up appointments with Parkland and they gave me a clean bill of health. Still no concrete job for David, but he did end up starting a Sonic in Tyler, got paid some money we used to catch up on bills and have a Christmas with. Christmas went well, I was thankful I had the day off, and i could spend it with my family.

It was a crazy end to a crazy year. I'm looking forward to seeing a better outcome this year. Lets see what adventure 2011 takes me on!

Sometimes I want to scream.

I need to learn to be patient. I am still learning to sit back and let life happen the way it is supposed to. But for me, the control freak that I am, it is soo hard for me and the way things are crumbling around me. I hate waiting. I hate things being up the air for a long period of time. Lord, how am I supposed to be patient in these times? My husband has been looking for a stable job since last April. This is by far the longest he has gone without a steady paycheck. And he's a plumber! Plumbers should be landing jobs left and right. Right? This "growing" economy needs to show. There needs to be more construction work going on so my hubby can build the plumbing from the ground up. Newspapers and magazines need to make a comeback, so my career can be more in demand. He's having to send his resume around the world, hoping someone would call him back.

I'm even having a hard time finding a print graphic artist job, that doesn't need to know website work. I really regret not paying attention more to website creation in school. I didn't think my life was heading in that direction, then. How did I know that 5 years later, the economy would go bust?!? For now, I am freelancing back at the Morning News... hanging on to this job for dear life, hoping the workflow will need me here after this month. I hope to find a stable job. With benefits. Its sad, but I would actually like to go to the dentist. I haven't been in years. Even though I hate the dentist, I know I need work done. I'd like to have a paycheck that is steady, that I don't have to worry if it will be there next month. I'd like the bills to be paid on time all the time.

Sigh.

Can I rewind to when I was a kid?

What the crap?!?!?

I can't catch a break... get one step forward and forced to take 2 steps back. It all started new years night. Our computer at home caught a virus. I spent all night trying to get that thing off, to no avail. The next morning I finally gave up and saved some files to a disk, and reformatted the computer. Ended up having to buy Windows 7 to upgrade the system. Could have payed the phone bill with that money, but yeah, that had to wait. But now, we have a nice system to run on, with anti-virus protection!

Another whopper that happened is that Belk is letting me go. I've got 2 more weeks with them.... then I don't know what to do. Apparently the temporary status I was on, really does mean temporary. The store is over their hours, so they are starting to cut people to make up for the holiday hours. So now I'm begging the Dallas Morning News to give me more hours in the week, and sending my resume out to different companies, praying for a STABLE job to come my way. But knowing I will take what I can get. I don't want to do retail, but if I have to, I will.

This year is starting off kind of stinky. It's got to get better than this. It just has to!