Officially Technological

Did I make you gag with my title? Of course I have tidings of comfort and joy, I just got a new job, I just got married (and quite happily married - I might add), I scored a house along with my marriage, and I'm wearing my favorite Christmas sweater (it's neon red). So, yeah, of course I can wish tidings of comfort and joy because my life is lookin' pretty darn good this Christmas. But not everyone's life is looking so... uh... neon red this Christmas.

I think back to family friend who lost his wife last December (or early January, I don't remember exactly when). I think about my friends Chad and Rebekah who have just had a baby very, very premature, and don't get to spend Christmas snuggling her, because she's in an incubator. I think about a kid at church who will be spending Christmas alone this year because he's no longer young enough to be in the foster care system, and his mom doesn't want anything to do with him. I think about a co-worker who can't afford gifts for her kids this year because of a nasty divorce. I think about another co-worker whose son was murdered last weekend in a case of mistaken identity. It's sad. Life is just sad. And just because mine isn't right now doesn't mean that it hasn't been in the past, and it doesn't mean it won't be in the future. Sometimes life just sucks.

But as much as I'm aware that life can kick your butt, I'm even more aware that when life kicked my butt, the message of Christmas gave me comfort and joy. Christmas says: "Hang on. Help is on the way. In a few years, this kid's going to grow up and everything will be better. Why? Because this baby will take care of every burden, every pain, every hurt, every mistake, every failure, this baby can heal you." The message of God says, "It's just temporary. It's going to be OK. I promise."

So, for those of you who are thinking to yourselves, "Hmph, who has ever heard of tidings of comfort and joy in this place?" hang in there. It's going to be OK. And look for that baby. He'll make everything better. I promise.

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10b-11)

I got a new job. One week to the day of being "let go", "my department being down-sized", "my job being eliminated". I'm pretty excited about it. It's with a company called Transformations. It's a furniture company. I'm looking forward to starting January 2nd, so there shouldn't be this huge lapse in paychecks.

Brian took me out to celebrate last night after I got out of class. He took me to Uno's (one of the few resturaunts open) where I had clam chowder and this crazily huge peanut butter cup with ice cream. Then we went to Meijer where he got me Gouda cheese (which is my favorite food in the world but we never buy because it's so expensive). So, that was really sweet of him and really fun. It's been a while since we went out and not only looked forward to, but embraced spending money on frivilous things. It was really great.

On the flip side, I have two more days at my current job. Tomorrow, I'll start wearing the Christmas attire. I have a neon red sweater that I wear with a silver sequin belt, and I also have a kelly green sweater that is kinda "Christmasy". I feel like I'm just trying to get through the next two days so that I can enjoy my holidays, and not have to worry about anything work-related. It's really nice to have 10 days off in between jobs and several of those days being holidays.

Since I will be working at Transformations full-time both Brian and I feel the need to start setting aside the extra money for when we have kids and/or for emergencies. And I'm looking forward to being able to pay off some loans more quickly, etc. We now it's going to take a lot of dicipline to not want to just spend everything all willie-nillie, because both of us like to have fun stuff. So, I guess this is a really big oppurtunity for us to learn how to manage our money better. I know it's un-fun, but hey, it will make emergencies less scary. And that is fun.

So, that's my synopsis on my last few days. I feel very undeserving of any favors from God, but yet, I feel like I've gotten a lot of special favors in the last 25 years, so I guess I'll just take them, and be grateful.

Also, wanted to mention that some friends of ours (from Bay City) just had a baby in an emergency C-Section. Long story short the mother (Rebekah) had eclempsia, which is fatal, so they had to get the baby out as soon as they could cut her open. So, the baby was born at 28 weeks (which is no where nearly enough time to be developed). Fortunately, the baby seems to be doing well, and they have every hope that Rebekah will be fine too, but just keep them in your prayers. Not just for their survival, but for any health problems that they may/may not experience later, and for the financial situation of a young couple having a baby in the hospital for months.

And that's all for now. I think. Yup. That's all I got.

So.... I lost my job. Gr. It turns out that the college that I currently instruct at is trying to get accredited for a Baccalaureate program, and guess what? You need a master's degree. Which, of course, I don't have. Gr. I hate looking for jobs and I hate looking for a job at the holidays even more. I'm trying not to panic. And some days I do very well with that. :) And on a more serious note than you will typically see on my blog - I think I've realized the reason why I panic. This might sound crazy, but I feel like if I don't panic, I'll lose my edge and not care and not actually get anything done. It's weird that I've convinced myself that I need the adrenalin of panic to be productive. It’s actually not true, but for some reason it feels true. So, I’m focusing on not panicking and staying productive anyway. I think I’ve been doing pretty well. Brian’s been really helpful and sweet, so I’ve been really thankful for that.

Brian and I have actually thought that maybe I should be easing into a tutoring business, but I know how long it takes to build up clientele and I’m thinking it would be nice to have a steady income so that I can build it up slowly. So, that’s what we’re hoping for. We’ll see. *sigh*

This is a truly amazing moment for me. As of last night:

1. The house is glittering with Christmas decor
2. All the laundry is folded (or hung) and put away
3. Everything has been freshly dusted and vaccummed (Brian dusted for me - wasn't that sweet?)
4. The refridgerator is cleaned out
5. The dishwasher is empty
6. The newspapers thrown away
7. The coupons clipped
8. The gifts are under the tree
9. The dog is feeling better from his illness
10. The pantry and refrigerator are stocked

This may not seem like extraordinary accomplishments to any of you, but considering that I do these kinds of activities while I wait for Brian to come home (between 10 and 12 PM), I am really excited to be able to go home tonight and not do ANYthing. I've rented a couple of movies, I've got some projects I would like to work on, but nothing pressing at all. Just time to relax.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh............

After spending an hour (of my very scarce time) and more money than I care to admit at Hobby Lobby this afternoon, I have decided that I need to be put (or put myself) on a very strict Holiday wrappings budget. Before the holidays we set up a "Christmas Master Budget". Meaning that we set aside X amount of money for family, X amount for friends, X amount for each other, X amount for parties, but what we have missed is the wrappings.

I love ribbon. I like shiny ribbon, and dull ribbon, and ribbion with words on it. I like that paper ribbion (raffia?) and the fuzzy ribbon, and that ribbon that curl using the edge of a scissors. I like bows, and knots, and criss-crosses, and layers, and explosions of ribbon. Basically, I like ribbon. Unfortunately, all these ribbon creations take lots of ribbon to explore with, lots of time to create with, and lots of money to buy with. So, after staring at the ribbon longly for quite a while, I have decided that I must incorperate a ribbon budget into the Christmas Master Budget. It's the only way to not alarm my poor husband who thinks wrapping presents are a waste of time. Yes, we need a ribbon budget.