Good things are happening in the W household… Fall is here! And to celebrate, we’ve had temps in the 90’s in the desert. Fall-like, eh? And the leaves turn yellow and just fall off the tree. It has been cooler at night. In fact, I’m using three thin blankets now instead of just the sheet and and one blanket. How did 65 degrees become cold? I digress… Here are a couple pics of our fall decorations.
I put candy corn and a white pillar in the hurricane. I made the leaf coasters from felt.. super easy, and cheap! Gotta love that Pinterest for ideas.
A “Happy Harvest” decoration, a couple pilgrims, pumpkin salt/pepper shakers and leaf garland. I swore we bought more than this when we got married… our collection seems to shrink every year!
Running
As far as running is concerned, I’ve discovered the track at the gym. It’s indoor, and measured weird. 11.3 laps equal one mile. I did some half-mile repeats yesterday without the Garmin and felt really good. Just taking it literally a step at a time. No use in forcing myself to run when I just don’t want to. Staying fit and healthy is the goal here, so whatever exercise gets me there, right?
Work
There’s been some drama at work lately. I’m not a fan of drama, never have been. I try to stay away from it, and sometimes come off as a big jerk. This isn’t personal drama, it’s scheduling drama. I had been offered a promotion, like I said, and so I worked in this new position for a couple weeks. It’s just not my thing, doing administrative tasks, and especially having lots more responsibility for not-so-great pay. Because I was in the office more, I wasn’t teaching as much. I love teaching and tutoring. That’s why I sought out this job in the first place. (I don’t think I’ll ever be a principal. Ever.)
I talked with my boss on Monday, which went really well. We figured something out to where I’ll be working in the office on Fridays and the rest of the week I’ll be tutoring in the evenings. And, get this, I’ll have most Saturdays off! I have no idea how that transpired, but I’m not gonna complain.
I still would love to find a full-time aide position or something like that. I’ve applied at a few districts, but not getting my hopes up. The job I have now definitely suffices. I love being able to be at home during the day and get things done.
Husband
I love my husband. Seriously. It gets sweeter every day, and I thank God for giving us the strength to get through the distance, because being together is just the best thing ever. The other night he went to bed earlier than usual because he had a migraine. I wanted to go to sleep, too, but just wasn’t tired enough. I stayed up for awhile and then finally headed to bed. It was such a great feeling knowing he was home. Sleeping alone was something that took me awhile to get used to, and now I really try to not take for granted that we’re together.
We work well together around the house. We try not to eat out except for once a week, so during the week I’ll get dinner ready and then he’ll cook it since I don’t get home until two hours after he does. This system works out well. We also both tackle the chores around the house. I’m blessed to have a man who not only knows how to do things around the house, but doesn’t complain about it.
Right now it’s rumored that his unit won’t deploy until the end of next summer. How awesome is that? It could change, of course, but that’s the latest he’s heard from one of his superiors.
Church
Harvest is an awesome church. We love the people… we’ve made some good friends through small group. We officially became members after doing the “mission and values” class. We were approached by one of the pastors who asked us if we’d be interested in teaching the junior high class on Sunday mornings. We would go to first service and then teach in the second. We met with another pastor on Sunday who oversees some of the youth activities and he explained our duties. Basically we’re going to set up a coffee shop feel for discussion, study and prayer for the 7th/8th graders. We have so many resources at our disposal… it’s just crazy. And we have freedom in what we teach, which is great. We’ll start that October 9th.
Around the house
We got a washer and dryer a couple weeks ago for just $150 total! I got them on Craigslist, and the guy and his wife actually brought them over and set them up. I went to Lowe’s to get a hose for the hot water and a vent for the dryer, and wa-la! No more hauling everything to the laundromat.
In the interest of saving money, I asked one of my friends from our old church (sad to say “old church”… boohoo) how she makes her laundry detergent. It’s cheap, mostly all-natural and so easy to make!
Just one batch lasted me almost two months. Granted, we’re only two people, but lots of time we’ll have two outfits per day when we work out. Mix these ingredients (I found both Borax and washing soda at Walmart) and use 1 tbsp per regular load.
Going into fall and winter…
I am so excited about the next few months. About the cooler weather, earlier sunsets. About giving out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters. When we lived in the apartment, we didn’t have kids come and trick-or-treat, so we’re doing it this year since we have a house. There are lots of kids in our neighborhood; I see them walking back and forth to the school down the street all the time.
I’m excited to celebrate our first Thanksgiving at home. We went to my parents and my in-laws’ before for dinner. Last year I had my immediate family over. This year it’ll be the two of us, and hopefully a house full of friends. We’ll see… lots of people already have plans.
And there’s the Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving Parade.
This Christmas we’ll get to celebrate at home. Not sure where we’ll get a real tree (that’s something the husband insists on…). I suggested decorating a cactus, but he wasn’t too keen on that.
While it’d be great to be able to go back to Illinois and celebrate the holidays with family, it’s nice to just be at our home and celebrate together. After all, the two of us do form our family for right now.
El Paso
Aaron mentioned the other night that El Paso is starting to grow on him. I have to agree, and it surprises me. Most likely, we’ll be here for about three years. I’d actually love it if we were here through the end of his enlistment (4.5 years left). We’ve joked around about settling here, but I’m not quite sure about that possibility. I admit, there’s something about Texas in general that draws me in. With his job prospects in the civilian world, we could live in a number of different places. Guess we’ll see what’s in store for us…
mercies per mile 