Assessment

     One of the blogs I follow assessed how well they followed through on their 2015 resolutions. Since following in other people's footsteps is something I excel in, I thought I'd do the same.

1. Read through the entire Bible (find a reading plan. I like this one so far.)
     This did not happen.
2. Read at least 12 fiction books
     I read more than 12. Resolution completed!
3. Read at least 4 non-fiction books
     I think I read maybe two?
4. Tithe more consistently
    We didn't start out great in this area, but last fall we decided to have it set up so that the money is automatically taken out of our account. I'm not sure if this is cheating, but if we don't do it this way, it won't happen.
5. Stick to a budget
     Nope. Although we mostly stuck to one for Christmas. Does that count?
6. Go to the gym at least twice a week
     We canceled our memberships because we weren't going. It was turning into a waste of money.
7. Lose 15 lbs. (This one may not actually happen since we sort of want to get pregnant this year...)
     Possibly. Although mostly because I stopped eating breakfast.
8. Find and stick to a cleaning schedule*
     This did not happen either....
9. Journal more often. (Hopefully this guided journal will help)
     Nope.
10. Call grandparents more frequently
     Unfortunately, no. Oh, dear.

Welp. At least two of them happened? That's better than nothing at least.

Couches, TVs, and Coffee Tables

I think we are going to reorganize our living room today. Which is exciting. Right now, it feels sort of crowded. The couch is in the middle of the room because there is a sliding glass door along the north wall, and a fireplace in the north-west corner. We are going to move the couch to the south wall and the tv to the north wall. Similar to what the layout was when Tory and I were dating. It will hopefully create the illusion that there is more space in there than not. Tory also wanted to use the coffee table I had while in college. I'm excited because I like it a lot better than the cheapo one we got as newlyweds. So much more sturdy and nice looking.
In all honesty, our condo is a giant mess. Since we both work full time, it's hard to keep clean. As introverts working with the public, coming home burned out is a daily occurrence. At that point, it is so much easier to ignore the piles of dirty dishes and the growing mound of empty pop cans and just sit on the couch watching television. Maybe when my sister moves in with us, I'll have more of an incentive to keep the place at least presentable.

Perfect Timing

Ohmigosh. So here is a story (about my own life) that perfectly shows how amazing God's timing is. Last February, Tory lost his job. The owner of the company where he worked found out that he was searching for a new job and let him go. Thankfully, he was able to collect unemployment, but here, it only lasts for about six months. Well, he couldn't find a job anywhere. He got a fair amount of interviews, but nothing ever came of them. It was difficult because we were constantly getting our hopes up, talking about all the things we could do if he got the job: where would we live, how great it would be if we lived closer to family, what we would be able to do in the new city. Sometime in the middle of the summer, he applied for a job at a credit union, but he got a rejection email. After this, his brother-in-law was able to get us interviews with the company he worked for down in Florida. It seemed like a for sure thing. We were even looking at apartments online, and trying to figure out what we might be able to afford. Then rejection letters arrived in the mail. Mind you, during the summer I was working two jobs. At my original sales associate position I was getting about 25 hours a week while nannying for about 18 on the side. (Fyi, at the beginning of the summer I was their favorite nanny. At the end, I was apparently the devil, because I made them do what their parents wanted them to, e.g. violin practice and eating a banana for breakfast. I kid you not, the oldest drew a picture of me as satan.)

This is supposed to be me...

Anyway, my nannying job ended and Tory had still not found a job. We were getting pretty close to the end of the unemployment as well. I think he had maybe one more week left. He changed some of the wording on his resume, and decided to apply for the same credit union job he had applied for earlier in the summer. This time he got an interview. And then another. And another... He got the job. Right when my second job and the unemployment stopped. There was no way we would have been able to live on just my customer service income. But God provided. Crazy, right?

Resolutions

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions because, honestly, I'm not that great at sticking with things. There are numerous projects collecting dust that are maybe a quarter of the way finished. One of them is a cross-stitched penguin I started over a year ago for a friend. Anyway. This year I decided to make a few. All of them are easily attainable; they just require me to actually get off my butt and make a genuine effort.

1. Read through the entire Bible (find a reading plan. I like this one so far.)
2. Read at least 12 fiction books
3. Read at least 4 non-fiction books
4. Tithe more consistently
5. Stick to a budget
6. Go to the gym at least twice a week
7. Lose 15 lbs. (This one may not actually happen since we sort of want to get pregnant this year...)
8. Find and stick to a cleaning schedule*
9. Journal more often. (Hopefully this guided journal will help)
10. Call grandparents more frequently

See? All of them are mostly easy to achieve. Right? Back me up here guys, haha.

* Sunday: Laundry
  Monday: Clean master bath
  Tuesday: Clean guest bath
  Wednesday: General straightening
  Thursday: Sweep and mop
  Friday: Dust
  Saturday: Vacuum
Dishes every day

Love

My husband is really something. In a good way of course. I work in retail, so last Friday wasn't the greatest day of the year. It didn't help that I had to work Thanksgiving night either. Granted, most of the customers that came through were very nice and not combative. But it doesn't matter because unless they are really, really nice, the only people you remember are the rude idiots. All that to say... When I came home late afternoon on Black Friday, there were purple flowers and milk chocolate sitting on the dining room table. Tory told me the store was out of dark chocolate raspberry squares and he had been a bit peeved about it. The man knows me so well.
Yesterday I came home and the dishes were done and a meatloaf was in the oven. (I worked until 5:30 and we had to be somewhere by 7:00) Yup, that guy loves me a lot; am I lucky or what?

Unanswered Prayer

Lately I have been going to the Women's Bible Study at my church. We are reading through Wayne Grudem's "Bible Doctrine". In one of the chapters, he addresses the issue of what some people call unanswered prayer, and calls it just that. I don't remember who originally brought this to my attention, it was that long ago. Maybe the former pastor at my parent's church? Anyway, the phrase drives me nuts. God never doesn't answer prayer. Just because you didn't get what you want doesn't mean He didn't answer. "No" and "wait" are both valid responses.

Birth Control

    Right. So in the past months lots has happened. We got engaged. His mom died. And we got married. Also, I found a new job. It's part time, doing the same thing I did before I started college. Not sure how I feel about that... but at least all of my coworkers are lovely (personality wise).
    On to my rant. I don't like how Christians just believe what they are told about birth control. I'm not one to point the finger, because I did the exact same thing. But when I was looking up facts on the stuff, I found that it isn't actually all that terrible. People assume you lose a lot of fertilized eggs, but the reality is that you lose more  if you use some other method, for example the rhythm method. (That sounds dirtier than it actually is--- it means you keep track of your cycle, what days you're fertile, etc.) Christians (again, myself included) assume that taking the morning after pill will induce abortion. Not so. The only reason people believe this is because at one time that was one of the theories about how this medicine worked. So they put it on the label. Now they are discovering that what the pill actually does is delay ovulation. If the egg got fertilized before this takes place... chances are you are still going to get pregnant.
And here is a Christian article that deals with the issue of birth control and whether or not one of the fail safes is aborting an embryo. It is long, but they conclude: "We do not find substantive evidence that hormone contraceptives include an abortifacient mechanism of action."

Anyway. I just had yogurt and croutons for lunch. It might wise to eat something else. Lunch-meat anyone?