This is cool!

For anyone using Tiger, I found this widget today, I think it is the coolest one I have so far. It will find the lyrics for whatever song you are listening to on iTunes. I use the word "whatever" loosely, as I have already found several that don't work. However, you can choose "edit" and save the lyrics in there if you so please.
I'm stoked! I love music and am always looking up lyrics on the internet. This just makes it easier and more fun! Also, it comes in different colors! :)
I'll leave you with a picture of our newly painted/sealed fence...

If you look at the yard next to ours, you can see the color that it used to be. I think this way is much more aesthetically appealing.
OH, and a quick update: we did try to meet our neighbors last weekend, but it didn't go so well. We met one dude named Lito. Seemed like a pretty nice guy. Then, we went to the house on the end since both cars were home. It was there that we had the priviledge of meeting Brian.
We rang the bell and waited quite some time for him to answer the door. When he did, he looked...drunk. We introduced ourselves and let him know that we just wanted to stop by, meet our neighbors and say hi. He looked at us with mild disgust and said (very sarcastically) "well...hi..."
**Awkward silence**.
"Okay, well, nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll see you around!"

Only after leaving did J inform me that every morning, before dawn, Brian revs his engine loudly several times and races his white trash car down the streets our subdivision at about 40mph.
I can't believe we waited so long to meet him!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is finally here, but it really doesn't feel like it. There's something about having family around that just makes it feel more Christmas-y. I guess I'll feel better on Thursday when Mom, Dad, Bob, Eisel and Nanny get here.
Anyway, we had a nice Christmas Eve. We went to a service at Crossbridge Community Church. It turns out the kids of the church were doing the Christmas Story along with lots of Christmas songs. We really didn't meet anyone but it was nice, nonetheless. We came home and made home-made pizza and watched Austin Powers 3. J wants it to be our Christmas Eve tradition. :)
We wanted to try out another new church this morning, but all the ones that looked/sounded really good weren't having church today. I find that very weird. I mean, yeah, it's Christmas Day, but isn't Christmas all about Jesus?! Oh well, we will continue our church hunting next week.
Well, J is very excited (and almost ready) to start opening some presents, so I guess I'll wrap this up for now.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!

I wish I had some exciting news to post, something like what a great time I had with my new friend this morning and how well we hit it off. But alas, it is quite the opposite.
She left me a voicemail last night* telling me she had to cancel. I guess they booked her an appointment for work and she had no choice. At least I know that she wasn't just *trying* to blow me off, as I did see her with a client this morning while I was at the gym. It is stll kind of discouraging, though.
But on to happier thoughts...
Our dining room table and green couches are coming today!! I'm excited that our downstairs will be almost complete. All we need now is to decorate the walls and get an entertainment center or an armiore for the TV, DVD player and VCR.
Also, one of our new neighbors came over yesterday to introduce herself. She seems nice. Tomorrow, J and I are going to start knocking on doors and meeting the rest of our neighbors. Kind of wierd, but we don't often see them outside and I feel like we should at least meet them.

*Maybe I have just been in England too long and am therefore ignorant about cellular telephones, but can anyone tell me how it's possible to leave a voicemail without actually calling the person? My phone never rang, and the call was not listed under "missed" or "received" calls, but there was a voicemail.

Corin.

This post may make me sound a little bit pathetic, but it honestly isn't meant to be that way. :)

I might have a friend!!
I mentioned several weeks ago that I got a sweet deal when we joined our gym and I was getting 3 personal training sessions for free. I had my 3 sessions with this chick named Corin. We hit it off pretty well from the beginning and I love the things she taught me. When our sessions were over, she said she had a lot of fun and was going to miss training me. I told her if she ever wants to work out together or something she could give me a call, and gave her my cell phone number. I see her several times a week while I'm there, but she is usually with a client and I don't want to bug her as these people do pay big bucks for her time.
Well she called me yesterday to wish me a Merry Christmas. She called from work, so I am wondering if she called because she wants to be friends or if the trainers are supposed to call all of their clients? hmm... Anyway, I decided to hope for the best. I asked her if she was planning on going to any of the group classes anytime soon cuz I wondering if I could go with her. She said she goes to a PowerFit class at one of the other Spectrums on Thursdays and we could go together!!
When I saw her at the gym yesterday, we talked for a few minutes and she gave me hug! She made sure we're on for Thursday and said she'll call me Wednesday night to remind me.
I know this may not seem like a big deal, but to me it is really an answer to prayer. It's so hard to make friends when you move as a adult. I mean, whenever I moved as a kid, it was almost inevitable that I would meet new people at church and school. Here, I don't even have a job where I can make casual friends, let alone close friends. We are still looking for a church, and hopeful that God will lead us to one where we will feel at home and make some real friends.
In the mean time, I am totally stoked that I have a potential friend. Someone my own age! (Or close. I'm guessing. I honestly have no idea how old she is!)
To all my real friends who are reading this, I love y'all and I wish you lived closer! :)

I'll have "better late than never" for $200, please...

OUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!

































I know everyone else did this post at *least* a week ago, but we're a little behind. Since Marla has requested to see our tree, here it is! Also, we have found a use for our fireplace!! The rooms both look bare, but it's not actually so. Last night we had the couches in the fireplace room and that is when we took the pic of the tree. Shortly thereafter, we moved the couches to the tree room. I took the fireplace picture a little while ago. And no, we don't trade them off every few days! Our new couches will be delivered on Thursday and we will be putting them in the room with the fireplace.

Christmas Info

Copied from Marla's blog.

Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog? Hot Chocolate, but I prefer hot apple cider
Does Santa wrap the presents or just set them under the tree? I only remember Santa bringing presents to Grandmom and Granddad's, not our house.
Colored or white lights on the tree/house? Blue lights on the tree, none on the house this year.
When do you decorate? Whenever we get around to it! :)
What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't think I have a favorite dish, I like when people set out the snack trays with crackers and meat and cheese and fruit and all that yummy stuff....
Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Maybe not a favorite, but a funny one. One year, mom and dad decided to trick us since we always tried to guess our presents. They mixed the tags around so we wouldn't know which presents were ours. But then when Christmas morning came, they got confused about what was who's. It took a while to get it all sorted. I don't even remember what any of the gifts were that year, but that was really funny.
Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? Just one! The rest first thing Christmas morning.
What kind of cookies do you set out for Santa on Christmas Eve? none.
Snow! Love it or hate it? Love it if I'm skiing!!
Can you ice skate? Yep!
What is the most important thing about the holidays for you? My favorite part is that they're almost always spent with family, celebrating Jesus' birth.
What’s your favorite holiday dessert? Fruit pizza at Marla's parents' house!!!
What type of tree? always fake growing up, but this year we have a real one!
Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving if I find "the perfect gift", but really I like receiving too! :)
What is your favorite Christmas Carol? I like Oh Holy Night.
Candy Canes, YUCK or YUM? Yuck.

flu shots are good.

I am speaking from personal experience. J got one. I did not. J is well. I am not. I got one last year, and I will be getting one next year as well.
Yesterday did not turn out as planned. I went to bed pretty sure that I was getting sick. I took some Tylenol Cold Nighttime medicine thinking I could just sleep it off. Apparently it has the same effect on me as NyQuil...keeps me wide awake for hours!! By morning I was pretty sure I'd be better off if someone whacked me over the head with a 2X4, at least I would be unconcious. I didn't actually get out of bed until about 1:30 in the afternoon. UGH! What a miserable day. Today has been better, I was able to get up and shower and go to the commissary. Now I am dead tired again, so J is at Walmart while I sit here doing mostly nothing.
For a few days, I am glad that I don't have a job. I think calling in sick to work should be added to my list of things I do not like. The only time I call in sick to work is when I am really sick, but I just *hate* making that call. For some reason, I always feel like my boss won't believe me. It's even worse when I sound really sick, then I fear the boss will think I'm faking that to make it seem worse than it is. Maybe that's just me...

Jobs, Beds and Gifts...

Well, for anyone wondering, I am still lacking a job. However, the interview went well (I thought). The dude who interviewed me seemed really cool. He only asked about a dozen questions and then told me a bit more about the job, WAMU, the benefits etc. Turns out they have 1500 interviews over the next three weeks. That seems like a ridiculous amount, but they are trying to hire 200 people. So really, my chances are better than 1 in 8, which seems a lot more likely. I guess I am not that worried about it due to the fact that I'm wishing, hoping and praying I will already be employed by the time they start offering positions (February).
On a more exciting note, we got a bed for the guest room!! Just went and picked it up a few hours ago. We found a discount place and got it for a pretty good deal. Tonight we will start decorating. I am very excited; it is going to be a beach themed room! If anyone would like to come stay with us, just let me know. (Oh, and the sooner the better, as I would love someone to keep me company during my time of unemployment!) :)
J had his shopping day today. The military gives everybody one day off in December so they can go Christmas shopping. Isn't that nice? However, they had some training this morning, so he had to go in for a few hours. We had lunch at Red Robin after his training and my interview and then bought some more Christmas presents. Also, J bought me a new workout outfit at Old Navy. I am so excited to wear it! But I don't think I will be going to the gym in the morning since I'm supposed to go to a Newcomers' briefing on base with J and it starts at 0730. :) I suppose I can wait until that's over.
I guess that about covers the excitement of my day.
P Sout.

WAMU

It sounds more like a weird animal than a bank.
Anyway, the job fair at Washington Mutual was even more crowded than I had expected. It was supposed to run from 3 to 7, and when I got there at 2:45 loads of people were already leaving. I was a little confused. I thought 15 minutes early would be appropriate. Well, as it turns out, somehow, somewhere, it was advertised as running from 11 to 7. And since there was such a good turnout, it went all day!
As far as I can tell, they set each participant from yesterday up for a one-on-one interview. Mine is tomorrow at 11:30. I feel like this is a good step, since I haven't had a chance to actually interview for any jobs yet. On a sad note, they're hiring for employees to start training in March. That's still SOOO far away. I might go crazy if I don't have a job by then. Well, I know God has a plan, I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

The search continues

Job hunting is quickly climbing up* on the list of things I do not enjoy.

I applied for 2 federal jobs this morning, both secretarial. Both are at Fort Sam Houston, which is still further than I want to drive, but I'm starting to get more desperate as the days go by. Here is an excerpt from the job announcements:
Knowledge of spelling, arrangement, grammar, and requires formats of messages, letters, charts, MFR?s, staff papers, etc.
I don't even have a sarcastic remark...it's too easy!

Speaking of desperation, I applied yesterday for a cashier position at the Home Depot which will soon be opening just down the road from our house. Not my number one choice, but I'm sure any emplyee discount could be put to good use! Also, one of J's bosses works part time at a Home Depot and supposedly the pay is pretty decent.

I was talking to Ryan (our main construction guy for the house) a few days ago and he mentioned that Centex Homes is hiring for a position I might be interested in: Schedule Builder Coordinator. He brought by the information today so I could apply (online, of course). After reading the position description, I am both frustrated and somewhat bewildered. Although poorly formatted, everything looked good until I got to the final paragraph:
What are the prerequisites for employment? (Education, prior experience, other?)' HS Diploma ' Two years collage experience ' 2 years project management experience
Ooohhhh, the irony. If only I'd spent my 3rd grade year making collages instead of playing with My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Kids.

This afternoon I will be attending a Washington Mutual job fair in hopes of getting hired for one of many Telephone Banker positions open in San Antonio. This seems somewhat promising, but considering the publicity it has gotten, it will probably just be me and 84,361 other hopeful job-seekers. In an attempt to boost my odds, I have already applied online and tailored my latest resume to address the qualifications mentioned on their website. Wish me luck!!


*Things I do not enjoy.
1)Incorrect spelling/grammar/punctuation
2)Spiders
3)Hominy :)
4)Lake stew
5)Job Hunting
6)Packing for vacation
7)Cleaning the bathroom
8)Unpacking after moving

A crazy week.

We're moved in! The house looks great...but only if you stay downstairs, the rest is still a mess! :) We finished moving everything from the apartment as of last Monday, so we are completely out of there. Then, much to our surprise (and excitement) our household shipment arrived from England and was delivered on Tuesday! Our fridge was also delivered on Tuesday, unfortunately it's not the TV one that Zachary wanted us to buy, but we love it. Anyway, so since Tuesday morning we have been doing a lot of unpacking and organizing as well as making trips to Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's every few hours. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but it feels like every few hours!
J got all of the blinds put up in the first 3 days, so our windows look great! We also got a chance to go get a Christmas tree and decorate it. The rest of the house is not yet decorated, but I do have those boxes set aside so we can do it soon.
Well, the Airtron people should be here soon, (apparently we have the wrong heating or A/C unit and they are going to replace it this morning) so I should get going for now. Now that we have internet at the house I can start updating frequently again, so if you've almost given up on checking my blog...give me another chance!! :)