On top of Everything

My computer is nearing the end of its life.  It freezes on me sometimes where the mouse and keyboard doesn't work.  If you kinda put pressure on it on the back, in the right spot, it MIGHT unfreeze on you but then if you look at it wrong it nothing can bring it back.  But touching it the right way doesn't even work anymore.  I had to buy it a external keyboard and mouse.  So sensitive.

Well Jeff quit his night job.  He has been absolutely exhausted at nights and we don't get to really spend time together cause after we eat when we both get home, he starts dozing as we play cards.  I think the deciding factor was that he fell asleep during a movie.  Yeah I know right?!  That is pretty much the highest punishable crime in their family.  And not just any movie, Lord of the Rings.  His all time favorite movies.  I think that was the moment when he knew that he was stretching his limits.  But his day job gave him a raise so it makes it easier.

Last week, my tooth started hurting pretty badly.  So bad that it has given me a headache for like 5 days now.  I went to the dentist this morning and they took a x-ray.  Large black nothing where bone should be and the problem is there is no sign of it on the surface.  He gave me antibiotics cause he thinks it's an infection and he wants to call other people to see if I need to go to a specialist.  Happy holidays to me.  I need a root canal and the next available appointment isn't until the 23rd of December.  Pretty much a month away.  Joy.  My meds that I'm on now, isn't letting me eat carbs and load on the protein.  I noticed something this morning as I was getting ready to leave.  I think I have spent more time preping for the dentist than I ever have on a date.  I brush like no other, floss (which I'll admit, I never do) and I even used mouth wash.  I've spent more energy getting ready than I did for dates.  The dentist should feel flattered.

I had Jeff give me a blessing with our home teacher.  He basically said that these antibiotics are gonna help not only my toothache, but also clear out the rest of my body of whatever has been there the past year.  There were a lot of things I learned this past year to where I'm at the point now where I'm fine with it.  No it isn't ideal and it kinda sucks but it is what it is and I know it'll pass.  I've been looking on the bright side of things and I've seen myself get stronger and healthier (thanks to all the cookies, pasta, and cakes I can't eat with the meds).  I know in my heart that I am being prepared for something and for some reason, I have more patience now than ever.  I am grateful to Jeff for being a worthy priesthood holder who is able to help heal and comfort me on a moments notice.  I'm grateful to my dad for being so knowledgeable and a help to me.  I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for not abandoning me.

Anniversary and Halloween

So a few things happened last week.  First, we celebrated our one year anniversary.  My parents were here over the weekend to say hi and Jeff and I went to Fleming's (where I work) for dinner.  Anyways, tradition is you are supposed to save the top tear of your wedding cake and eat on your one year anniversary.  Well... ours didn't survive the drive from Utah.  So I decided to make my own!  It was a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling and I think it tasted pretty good.  I thought I would make a cake roll.  Did everything I was supposed to but when I unrolled the cake, it kinda broke apart.  So I tried to put it together all puzzle-like and try to make a regular layered cake.  Picture below.

All I have to say is... Nailed it!

Second, it was Halloween!  Both of us had to work so we weren't home for the majority of the night.  My mom bought us pumpkins when she came down and we decided to save carving them for the day of to do something festive for Halloween since there were no costume or parties.  But here are our results.

And lastly (on a more somber note), it has been quite a while since I posted anything.  I have been in a bit of a... slump.  I'm over/out of it now but... it wasn't fun.  It was for reasons that I'm not ready to tell anyone yet.  I will at some point, but this is not that time.  I apologize for not "being here" if that can really be used as a term.  

But Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up and I'm excited to cook a Thanksgiving meal for the first time ever.  It'll probably be just the two of us, though I think I'm going to invite this other couple in our ward over.  So if anyone has any favorite recipes, I'd love to hear them.  And I'm sorry to announce, we will not be coming back for either holiday.  I was told very bluntly by my boss that I better not even think about taking vacation time around then.  We aren't open those days but it is our busy season and since all the other hosts we have I have just barely trained, they don't want me gone.  Also at Buca, Jeff is required to work on those holidays as well.  So we decided to wait until January to go visit my family in Michigan.  We will be back at Utah for a wedding at some point.  Maybe even two points, but right now we can't afford it and can't take the time.  I hope everyone is doing well!

Step it up!

So Jeff and I have started a routine.  In order for me to get better at italian, we decided to only speak italian every other day.  We have been doing it this whole week so far and we have been doing pretty good.  The days when it is only italian, I've had to switch to english cause most of the things I know how to say is pretty much every day things like, "we need to clean the kitchen" or "please feed the cats".  No intense discussion happening in italian any time soon but baby steps.  A friend sent me a website where I get more additional vocabulary on top of what I'm learning on Rosetta Stone.  A lot of useful kitchen items have come up which is good since I spend most of my time in there.  I hope with doing this more "immersion" speaking I can get more fluent faster.

Autumn

It's that time of year!  I love the fall.  Everything from the crisp weather to the changing leaves.  But the best part.... food!  I broke out my family cookbook and whipped up some wassail. For those that don't know what wassail is, it's basically a warm cider with cinnamon, oj, and some lemon and other things.  My mom would make a large (at least 2 gallon) pot of this around this time and winter and there is nothing better!  Perfect time to make it too because Jeff happened to get a cold.  It seems to have helped his cough and throat.  Whenever I get sick Jeff does too but he makes my illness seem like nothing cause I'll end up with the flu with a fever and aches while he will get it and be like "eh just a cold".  But he is doing fine.  Working hard and pushing through it.

Oh and Karen if you are reading this, we made the sweet pork recipe you sent us.  It was yummy and Jeff said I lived up to your standards which was the highest honor for me.  With the leftovers we are gonna make burritos and freeze them (you know how much Jeff loves his frozen burritos).  Thanks again for the recipe!

Job #2

We had a great weekend.  I requested the weekend off so I can sit at home and watch conference with Jeff.  Well Jeff forgot about conference when he scheduled his FSO test.  So we only watched the first session before he had to leave to go take his test.  He thinks he did decent.  He doesn't like saying that though cause he said that test makes him second guess everything.  He will find out in 3-5 weeks what his results are though so fingers crossed!  But he came home and we watched priesthood session.  We definitely felt inspired and will take that in consideration.  

But anyways, Jeff got a second job.  Since we both have opposite schedules and he is basically sitting around at home when he is done with work in the morning, he thought it would be best if he got a second job.  I was considering doing the same and I really don't know if I should or not.  I'm really on the fence about it because we really want to save money but since I was so sick over the summer we don't want me to get sick again so I want to take it easy.  I dunno, any thoughts on the matter?  But he is working at Buca di Beppo.  It's an Italian restaurant and he will be starting on Wednesday.  So hopefully our schedules will still match up a little still.  We are gonna try and live off my income and one of Jeff's job and put the rest into savings.  

Italian

So I'm trying to learn some italian.  I have been for a while and I think I'm getting somewhere but I'm not doing enough as I think I can be doing.  So today, I did a few lessons on Rosetta Stone and I labeled pretty much everything.  Everything from the flour to sink to toilet to the countertop.  I even debating on putting a label on the ceiling, but I restrained.  But I just want to get as much vocabulary in my line of sight so I'm looking at the words and reading them everyday.  Jeff and I need to set up a schedule to ONLY speak in italian so he can keep in practice and I can learn more.

A Little Note From Jeff

So Jeff sent out an email to our families explaining our situation the past couple weeks.  I thought I would copy and paste it here for those whose emails we didn't have.  Before I do that, I wanted to give a quick update on my health.  So while recovering from mono, I get the flu.  However, it is a blessing to me because all my symptoms that I felt from mono are going away aside from a stuffed nose.  I was talking to a friend of mine who also had mono and she said she got strep instead of the flu so count my blessings!

Anyways, without further ado....

Hey guys,

For those of you who don't recognize this email, this is your brother-in-law Jeff Fletcher.  I just wanted to tell everyone how things are going for us, because we have been receiving a lot of blessings since we moved out here.  I just got a job working for a construction company, and Ali is working at a steak house called Flemings.    

Since the government jobs were taking a while to respond to me, I have also been looking for a lot of random types of jobs in the city where we lived.  So I applied to work as a driver for a construction company.  Just moving materials back and forth.  I talked to the guy a bit before I came back for Dad's wedding, so i told you guys that I had an interview when i got back.  Well, when I came back and had the interview I showed up, and met the guy at his warehouse.  He started showing me around, and the more we talked the more he seemed to like me.  Right off the bat he said the driving jobs pays 8 an hour.  I had been hoping for at least 9 or 9.50.  He said that he had two positions open, so i asked him what the other one was.  He said that he was also looking for an administrative assistant, to help him with all of the paper work, and sending emails.  I told him that I am good with computers, and between school, work and the army I have had my fair share of writing papers, and sending emails.  So he was interested more in having me help him out on the administrative side.  When I asked him how much that paid he told me 12-13 an hour.  I was pretty psyched.  I showed up planning to get a low paying job, and got offered one that was much better.  I definitely felt like it was a huge blessing.

Ali had a similar experience with her job.  She got a job as a hostess at a nice steak house in Michigan when we were living there.  She liked doing it, and she was able to do it even though she was still recovering from mono.  The reason why she got it was because she had found that they had a second location in Northern Virginia not too far away from where we live.  So she transferred her job and she was loving it here to.  When she had been working in Michigan she had been making about 9 an hour, so I was expecting her to make at least that if not more when we moved out here.  Well she finally got an answer from her boss, and we found out that she is going to be making around 12 an hour as well. 

We found out her pay as well as me getting offered the job around the same time.  So we were feeling really blessed that week.  I have now worked there for a week, and it is fun.  I basically am just in charge of talking to his crew of cabinet installers and making sure that they have everything that they need, while he is busy running back and forth between the job site and his ware house.  Plus doing reports, and sending emails.  Pretty easy.  Apparently I was doing a half decent job, because when we went to finalize my paperwork, he said he was going to pay me $15 an hour since I was taking care of a family.  So the blessings keep on coming.  Ali had a baking job lined up as well, but when we found that we were both making good money we decided that she didn't need a second job.  She had been turned off by how unorganized they had been through the interview process, and how they didn't seem to care that much about her, even though she hadn't even been officially hired yet.  Since it might have interfered with her job at Flemings (the steak house), and it didn't sound like she would enjoyed it she was glad to know that she didn't have to have a second job.  So she just told them that she had changed her mind, and didn't want the job.  

I have been trying to get my job at target transferred down here as well, but that whole process has been a pain, and I don't really know if I want to work there anymore.  I still might get another second job, since I get off work early enough to have a second one, but we are in a good enough position that I am not in that big of a hurry to get one.  I am still working on getting a government job, that is still our main goal.  I even met a guy on the airplane ride out to Utah that does government contracting that I am going to get together with and talk about any opportunities.  Our ward is also full of people that do, or have worked for different agencies, and they all seem willing to help me out.  So I am feeling pretty confident.  

Ever since we moved out I just feel like we have gotten one blessing after another.  I know that we are in the right place, and that the Lord is looking out for us.  It has just been surprising me how much we are getting helped out here, so I wanted to tell everyone.  We love all you guys.  I hope that the lord is looking out for you to.  

Jeff and Ali.