Filed under: Posts
I don’t remember where I read it, but a few days ago I ran across the term “cat blog” to refer to blogs where the authors write about their personal lives extensively, such as what they fed their cat for dinner. They compared that to a niche blog, where people write about interests and passions – personal finance, fitness, hiking, etc. This certainly isn’t a niche blog. If so, I have about ninety niches, which I think maybe means they’re not really niches.
At the same time, I hope this isn’t a cat blog. I used to write about personal stuff all the time, but either my life has gotten extremely less interesting, or I just don’t feel the need to share every detail of my life. I think it’s a little bit of both.
But I do like to write about what’s going on, because when I reviewed 2008, reading through old blog entries was a special reminder of a lot of things that happened. So here’s what’s happened since the last time I posted my “cat blog” entry in mid-December.
Job Situation
I started back at my temp job after the new year not sure about how much longer my job would last. I didn’t really start actively looking, because I wasn’t sure. But after a week it became pretty clear that my job would probably end at the end of January, so I sent out a quick e-mail to my friend MB, who always finds me awesome babysitting jobs. On Tuesday she connected me with a woman who was looking for a nanny for her 5-month-old. Today I gave notice that next Friday would be my last day, and I’ll start Januay 26 with the nanny job. I’ll be taking care of Baby B Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursdays I’ll be helping another friend with her two sets of twins, and Fridays will be a day to work on wedding stuff and possibly babysit for a few other families I know.
At first I felt bad that I wouldn’t be working full time, but Christian and I have talked about it, and we think that it will be really good. I will be making just enough money to pay my bills, basically, but I will have more time to pursue some freelance stuff and also some breathing room to think about the wedding. And, while this isn’t the most important thing, I think I will enjoy taking care of Baby B way more than what I’m doing now. And I’ll be able to do it after the wedding as well. My income won’t be as important then, but whatever extra I make will go toward paying off Christian’s student loans.
Wedding Planning
I was sharing with a friend last night that sometimes I get mildly freaked out when someone asks me if I’m stressing out about the wedding, because truthfully, I’m not! But then I wonder if I should be, and by the time I’ve run through everything that still needs to be done, I kind of am freaking out.
Honestly, though, the wedding really will be simple, just like we want it to be. We’ve made some decisions in the past couple weeks that have aided that a lot. First of all, Christian and I are each having one attendant (me-my best friend Sam from high school; him-his best friend Robert from college). I don’t have to worry about finding a dress that fits everyone. Christian and Robert are just going to wear suits. We aren’t having a rehearsal dinner.
We’ve met with the wedding director at our church as well as the music director, and there was nothing we haven’t done that they felt like we need to do soon. We’re not doing flowers in the sanctuary other than the two bouquets (the flower girls will have silk petals). We picked out the music we want months ago.
For the reception, we’re using our iPod for the music, a friend of my mom’s is in charge of the food logistics, and we’re getting all our food from Publix and Sam’s Club. I realize that some people might think this is cheap, but we’ve done our research, and we’re satisfied that we will be able to give our guests a really nice reception more inexpensively than if we hired a caterer.
I’m hoping to order the invitations tonight, so for the next couple weeks, I’ll be spending some of my free time addressing those.
Really, that’s about all I can think of. What else is there?
Apartments and Cars
We’re still looking for a car for Christian, because his died in December. We’re test-driving a car some friends are trying to sell this coming week, and if that doesn’t work out, we’ve got some other options. Thankfully, Christian’s stepfather is a licensed Toyota mechanic, so he knows a ton about cars. And my dad’s keeping his eye open for eBay deals, because he’s bought three of our family’s cars from eBay, and we still have two of them (at one point, we had five cars: my car, my mom’s Trailblazer, eBay car #1 (Honda Civic), eBay car #2 (VW Jetta wagon) and eBay car #3).
We did find an apartment! Someone with whom we go to church and with whom Christian works (LB) is getting married the week after us, and she’s moving to Minnesota/Wisconsin (not both – I just don’t remember – all those cold northern states are the same to me). We’ll move in when we get back from our honeymoon. The rate is low, it’s in a great location about 5 minutes from Christian’s job, and it’s within walking distance of a Barnes & Noble. In other words, it’s perfect. It’s also awesome because LB isn’t taking much of her furniture. We’ll get to keep the washer and dryer, the couch, the bed and the dining room table at least. We may not get to keep it forever, but it removes a lot of the stress of moving.
Everything Else
I don’t really know how much else there is. Most of my days after work are spent going to the gym, eating dinner with my family or with Christian and reading. I’ve resumed my book study with my friend Katie, I’m still teaching the two- and three-year-old Sunday School class, and I’m trying to exercise three or four times a week.
Some recent high points (some of which reveal the general pathetic-ness of my life):
- Getting a new planner/calendar for 2009. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITING THIS IS.
- Going to eat at Macaroni Grill last night for some friends’ birthdays
- Eating at Moe’s every Monday night with my family
- Playing Candyland with Christian and one of our babysittees
- Pressing on in memorizing 1 John
- Beating Christian so far in our book challenge
Please don’t mock me.
2 Comments so far
Leave a comment
only help my unbelief 
1.) Speaking from experience, you will LOVE the nannying of the 5-mo-old. I have been keeping Evie for 14 months, 2-3 days a week and she is now 18 months, so i started when she was about 4 months old, and it is incredible.
2.) I was never “freaked out” about my wedding planning either, and I was worried about it, too. I think it has to do with taking care of everything yourself so you don’t have to worry about someone else not doing something important. At least that helped me.
3.) My sister’s husband is from a cold, northern state. Whenever people ask I always respond, “umm, Minnesota or Wisconsin, i’m not really sure”. haha.
Comment by Sarah McGalliard January 15, 2009 @ 5:40 pmBabysitting sounds great. I love my job, but I feel like I have to fight against a tendency toward “mannish” (I think I’ve heard Pastor Bowers use that in a sermon) qualities like competitiveness. Babysitting is a great environment to develop characteristics of a godly woman.
Comment by Emily January 16, 2009 @ 7:27 pm