sick days

i finally succumbed to the all the germs flying around me. i think i've contracted some sort of sinus head cold. at least it's not strep throat. one of the girls at work had that and i really didn't want it. david has been so wonderful taking care of me. the past 2 nights i woke up with chills and he got up to get me more blankets and the heating pad. and then he woke up when i needed more medicine. and he made me cream of wheat and brought me jello and ice pops. he loves taking care of me...and i love being taken care of! it's a win-win situation! i was a bit frustrated that i couldn't do anything. we both had off on thursday and were planning on doing alot of yard work and house cleaning and i wasn't able to do anything. david said maybe God wanted me to slow down a little and just rest. which is bitter-sweet to swallow. on one hand, i love the idea of laying down and sleeping or watching movies all day long. on the other hand, the dishes are piled high, the kitchen floor needs to be mopped, the bathroom needs to be cleaned and the yard needs to be "de-winterized". so david mowed the lawn, changed the oil in the car, bought me ice pops and got movies from the library, grilled hamburgers for dinner and said he'd do the dishes on saturday. i had some time to veg out, which despite being sick, felt really nice to relax so totally. i do think that sometimes God just knows when we need a break, even if we don't think so. or maybe He wants me to be more patient, or maybe just to appreciate my husband more. either way, whatever it is, i am glad for the break, am trying to be patient until this wears off, and i do appreciate all of the love and care from my hubby. i hope that you are all enjoying the wonderful spring weather! have a great weekend!

life updates

i appreciate everyone's encouragement from the last post i had about dave's job situation. i was not sure if i should share all of our struggle's about that, but it was something we were having a rough time with and i wanted to be honest and not portray the "everything is great!" cliche. because it wasn't. but i want to share with you now what God has done for us in the past few days. david finally was able to talk to his manager on tuesday and told him he needed to quit because of the financial strain the job was putting on us and the incompatibility it was with our priorities (ministry internship). he told him that his last day was going to be thursday. his manager tried to cut a deal with him, but we've just had enough, not to mention they only scheduled him for 17 hrs. next week when he's supposed to be at least 35. so thursday he worked and said goodbye. starting monday, he will be full-time at the scranton country club and maybe picking up a night or two at the texas roadhouse again. that alone has been a HUGE answer to prayer. we are relieved and encouraged to have a steady job with a stable income. as far as the heating bill, david called and worked things out. the letter was very misleading and was not what we thought. instead of paying $200 up until august, we just pay $200 this month and next month and then we will be done with the budget plan for this year and just pay what we use from now on. they made it seem like we would be paying more. so that worked out very well and we are relieved about that. as far as my contacts and a new car...we'll see how that works out! it may be that after a few weeks of dave's new job, we'll have enough for me to buy my year's worth of eyesight. God is providing....we're just waiting to see how He will work out the rest. thank you for your encouragement...it means alot!
on another note, i came across this article that i thought would be nice to pass along. it is called, Lunchtime Renewal. just a couple ways to rejuvenate yourself for the second half of your day. i especially like the 'feminine and masculine energy' :) read for yourself!
have a great weekend!

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel2560066&navLevel=3&site=bas

my herb garden

well, i thought that i would add my own thoughts about herbs. last summer i decided to plant a few different kinds in my flower box outside my kitchen window, just above my sink. i had basil, rosemary, spearmint and peppermint. every sunny day i'd open the window and let the smell waft in. it was beautiful! on the days david wanted to grill chicken, i'd go pluck some fresh rosemary, mix it with some olive oil and lemon and marinate it. brush some italian bread slices with rosemary and olive oil, grill it and you've got a tasty meal in minutes. i LOVED making sweet iced tea with fresh spearmint...i felt so domestic! i have been looking forward to this summer just for the fresh herbs. i went to wegmans the other day and bought 2 rosemary plants and 1 basil plant. they were already out of mint. so i am going to try to find that somewhere else. the peppermint was not worth it. it took up too much room and the leaves were too small to do anything useful with. plus i don't like it as much as spearmint anyway. i read on good ol' martha stewart that the terra cotta pots are the best for growing herbs, but if you don't like them, to use the plastic version. the flower boxes can keep too much water in it, promoting the roots to get too soggy. so this year i won't the box. i just bought some terra cotta pots to try them. i know ash and alicia said they didn't like them, but i'm gonna try my hand at it. i like the look of them. i'll let you know what happens. i encourage you to try growing some herbs if you've never tried it before. it's so much cheaper than buying them at the store, and you can do so many things with them that you never would do otherwise. if you can find plants that have already started growing, it is alot easier to work with. the ones i grew were low maintenance. just water them and pick the leaves when they get kind of big (for new ones to come). i am excited to hear about the 'herb tales' to come! pass on recipes when you come across a good one. good luck growing!

spring days

today has been a nice lazy day so far. david and i slept in for the first time all week. it was also the first morning we've had together for a while, so we got up, had some coffee and watched this week's episode of LOST that my mom taped for us. we are so addicted to that show! then dave read part of John 9 and prayed for our day. he had to get ready to be at work by 12 noon, and i left the house early to come down here to the cafe before i work at 3:45. i am sipping some chai tea and working on some office stuff for the cafe here on my new computer! it is a beautiful day out, not at all like yesterday. it was very rainy and dreary, but i'm not complaining. apparently, PA is in a bit of a drought. we've been asked to cut our usage of water back by 5%. so this week's rain was much needed. it's so nice to be outside without coats now. i've broken out the flip-flops and short sleeves. the buds are coming out on our lilac tree and the grass is a bit greener. and it smells so good outside! so earthy and grassy. i love it! it's invigorating after a long winter.
david and i are in the midst of trying to figure out where God is leading us too right now. it seems like the job at Staples is just not going to work out. they've been so wishy-washy with what they've offered him and how much they'll pay him and what hours he would work. it has become very clear to both of us that it is just not compatible with dave's ministry here at our church. so he has been trying to talk to the manager there but has been unable to see him, due to various reasons. there is a good possibility he will be able to have his job back at the country club, which would fulfill all of those criteria he needs. but we're still trying to connect with the manager there as well. he may have to pick up shifts again at the roadhouse (he had quit for the summer there, but he can go back anytime). the ulitmate goal for dave's jobs is to enable me to either cut back my hours or quit altogether. this past year has been stressful in ways that i didn't realize, but now the stress is taking a toll on my body. i talked to my doctor this week, and she advised me to find outlets for stress and to reach the goal we have. it's not necessarily the job that is stressful as much as it is working in general. i know that i am not a working woman, and i've been living that way for so long that i'm having a hard time handling it now. in the middle of all this, God has really been testing our faith regarding our financial situation. it just seems that one thing on top of another has been coming. but the weird thing is that it all came after we bought our laptop with our tax return money. since then, it seems God is testing us in various ways. 3 examples: first, i desperately need new contacts. i've stretched the last pair i have as long as i can and my insurance doesn't cover very much. glasses are not in any way practical for me now and not any cheaper; second, yesterday we got our monthly gas bill in the mail (we've been on the budget plan this year, paying about $80/month up until this august) and they sent a letter saying that they may have miscalculated how much we were using and were raising our monthly bill to $208/month!!! no warning that we might be using too much, nothing, until they raised it over 100% more than what we were paying; and the third, we need a new car. dave's has almost 200,000 miles and we aren't sure how many more trips to indiana it'll make.
i tell you all this, not to make you feel bad for us, but because we know that somehow God has to provide. we know our needs, we feel that we haven't been spending foolishly and we know that He is leading us somewhere for our good. sometimes it's difficult, and sometimes it's ok. but however God works, i will be sure to let you know! we are praying that it is obvious and that we will make the right choices. i think this is getting pretty long, so i will get going. have a blessed Easter!

Our new computer!!!

well, we finally did it. we used the bulk of our tax return to buy a new laptop. i know this isn't the clearest picture, so here is a link to the website where you can see it with a 360 degree rotation thingy! http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/entnb_e1505?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
so yesterday we got it and we LOVE it!!! right now, i am at the cafe, working. really!! well, at the moment i am typing this blog, but i am working on typing some manuals and stuff for the cafe. but i wanted to put this up quick so you all can see. what it means to you is that now i will once again be able to keep in touch a little bit better. hopefully in a few months we'll be able to afford internet at home, and then it will be even better! so, i am excited. and ash, i hope you find a good one too! i am sorry you lost yours...that's a bummer. but we can have new laptops together!
it is a beautiful spring day out, and i am going to take my lunch break outside. have a great day!

interesting picture

so...who do you think this looks like? let me tell you the story behind this picture. you see, it was a nice thursday night, and we were getting ready for bed. i walked into the bathroom and david is in front of the mirror with a comb, trying out all the hair styles he could think of. mind you, it's about 11 pm and we are tired. so i start giggling, which only egged him on some more. so i ran and grabbed my phone (my new cingular camera phone!) and snapped this picture. kind of a sleezy disco 70's look. he thinks he's an ashton kutcher look alike. maybe...not really sure. unfortunately i don't have a nice picture to put up after this so you will have to be scarred with this image until i can rescue you later. hope you are having a lovely weekend!

our secret names

Ok, so this email has been going around, and i think it's pretty funny. so here it is. i did dave's and mine. mine is in blue and dave's is in red.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Puppy Madison Jack Madison

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your either side, your favorite candy)
Marie Butterfinger Elmore Snickers

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name)
Leli Dand

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, favorite color)
Doggy Green Dog Blue

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Elizabeth Boonton Andrew Argus

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Sielasjeb Sieeselan

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards)
Htebazile Salguod Werdna Eseiw

8. PORN STAR NAME: (middle name, street you grew up on)
Elizabeth Elcock Andrew Center

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automoblie you drive)

The Green Blazer The Blue Lumina

indiana trip

here is the latest picture of dave and i, taken last sunday at his parent's house in Indiana just before we left to come home. i just noticed how tired i look...guess it was the anticipation of the 10 hour drive ahead of us. we had a good time. it was very relaxing and a much needed break. we left last wednesday night, drove all night and got there around 8:30 am. we had to stop a few times and sleep at the rest areas, but we made it! we just relaxed and slept alot and enjoyed the time spent with his family. jon, dave's older brother, was able to make it in from columbus, OH to spend the weekend with us. dave, bob (his dad), and jon taught me how to play monopoly. yes, i'm sorry to say, i've never played before!! but they taught me, and wouldn't you know, i killed them all! i was feeling pretty good about myself i have to say! i got my hair trimmed by deb, dave's younger sister, on saturday. she graduated from beauty school last year and has landed a very good job at a local salon called Clippers. of the 3 siblings, anna was the one who had the most time to spend with us. she and her husband josh just bought a puppy a month ago. millie is a beagle and german short haired pointer mix. very cute! anna and i are the two eligible grandchildren givers, so of course, all week we got the not so subtle hints from sandy (dave's mom)! she'd love a couple of grandbabies to play with, but so far, neither of us are seeing any soon! we left sunday afternoon for the long drive back and pulled in around 3 am. we were pooped! good thing we intentionally didn't plan anything for the morning, so we were able to sleep in and rest. this week has gone by pretty quick. nothing very exciting to report...just the daily grind again. waiting not so patiently for spring. soon enough i guess. well, have a great weekend all!

st. patrick's day

i know st. patrick's day isn't officially until this friday, but the parade in scranton, which hosts the nation's 4th largest st. patty's parade, was yesterday. which is also the busiest, most profitable day for us at the cafe, since the parade goes by our front door. apparently there was supposed to be about 8,000 people in the parade, and tens of thousands of spectators. i heard it was the busiest parade yet in scranton. so all that meant for me was a long tiring week of preparation making dozens and dozens of cookies. i think overall, i must've made about 25-30 dozen. lets just say i don't want to see or make another cookie in my entire life! i was exhausted, but i know the paycheck will be worth it! saturday was a good day. thankfully, this year i didn't have to work during the parade hours, but i did get stuck with the clean up at night! it wasn't that bad. since we were a bit short-staffed, my dad had to work as well, so that was nice to work with him. it was alot slower than we anticipated, and we only saw a couple of drunks (they opened the bars at 7:30 am!!!) so we were able to clean up pretty easily. i'm just glad it's over! this well we are looking forward to a surprise trip out to indiana. well, really only a surprise for dave's mom. she has no idea we're coming! we haven't been there since thanksgiving, so we thought we'd make a long weekend trip. we're going to leave wednesday night, drive all night and hopefully pull in around 6 or 7 in the morning. we kindof like driving through the night. it cuts the time alot and there's just not that much traffic. we'll be back next sunday night. i'll try and get a post on while we're there. hope you have a good week! gotta run...

latest siegrist news

i'm sorry that i haven't been very active in keeping this up to date. like i said in my last post, we've been having trouble with our computers, making my blogging difficult. but in an effort to keep in touch, here's the latest on the siegrist's.

david's still working 3-4 nights a week at staples, and friday and saturday nights at the texas roadhouse. he pretty much dislikes those jobs, but is just hanging on until the beginning of april when the scranton country club opens again and he can get his job back there, with $1 more per hour than last summer! when he is not working, he is hanging out with me, or at the cafe when i'm working, or at home, helping me with the dishes and other housework. we both are doing an informal internship with Grace Baptist Church along with 3 other newly married couples.

Pr. Colin Smith has meetings with us every sunday night where we discuss what's going on in the church, how to start the various ministries we've wanted to start, and learning basically what a pastor and a pastor's wife is and how they work in a church. we talk about theology and what it takes in starting a church. it has been a wonderful learning process so far and we are excited to see what God has for us through this church.

i am still working 2 days and 1 night a week at northern light. i love my job and love working so closely with my dad in this business. it is rewarding in many ways and really has helped shape who i am. when i'm not working, i am either at home trying to keep up on cleaning and organizing, or out doing errands. on monday nights when dave is working, i go over to sarah sespico's parents (the boyles) and hang out with sarah, chris, garrett, and her parents for dinner and watching 24. they've got me hooked! on wednesday night's we have prayer meeting, which has proved to be different than any other prayer meeting in any other church i've ever attended. it is the heart of our church, a vulnerable bonding time with the church body. we look forward to it every week! on friday nights i go to my parents while dave is working to do our weekly laundry! it is a time i look forward to because i know that we won't always be this close to them. saturday nights i work and sundays are our relaxing day!

other than that, i'm doing pretty well. i'm not sure if i told everyone about my thyroid. last august my doctor diagnosed me with hypothyroidism. basically means my thyroid doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone for my body. it has caused a large amount of fatigue and has made daily life a bit harder to deal with. we're still in the process of finding the right dosage of medicine that will compensate enough for my thyroid. but we haven't quite pinpointed it yet. it's a waiting game since you can't feel the effects of the medicine for a few weeks. so each time we adjust, it's 3-4 weeks before we know if we need to adjust again. i think it is something i'll be dealing with for the rest of my life, but it's not really that bad. just makes me want to sleep!

i think that about covers it! my time here on the computer is just about up, so i had better go! miss you all and wish you a wonderful week!

problems

this is just a quick post since i am using my lunch break here at work to write this. i am sorry i haven't been able to keep up too much lately. i probably won't be as on top of things for a while. it seems that our computer is kaput for a while. something happened to the keyboard and it won't type. every button you push prints something like this sd\:l weird, huh? yeah. so we tried everything. up to saving all our stuff and restoring it to the factory condition. didn't work. so unless we want to pay someone to fix it, we'll probably have to wait and see how much we get back in our tax returns and see if we can afford another laptop. so i'm back to using the cafe computer or my parents. not very much time to put a really nice post. so, sorry, and hope you all are well. i'll see what i can do!

picture of ash and la

this picture of ash and i was taken on the same week of vacation that i am going to write about in the post below. it's not the best picture because i had to scan it in (can't afford the digital camera yet). but we still look good!

this picture is just a little outdated, from our september beach vacation, but it is the best picture i have of us and we still look the same! so i figured i'd grace you with the good looks of the Siegrist's. actually, that vacation was the most needed one ever. our best friends, joe and ashley wittmer came out from Indiana to spend a week with us at the NJ shore. it was so nice to be with them. there are only 1 or 2 times a year that we see them, so any time is precious.
actually, it was that vacation that started ashley's battle with her health. the day that they got there, she started getting hives on her head. by the end of the week, it had spread to every part of her body, and she had gone through a whole box of benedryl and nothing was working. since then, she has had numerous tests and seen many doctors and they have not been able to nail down what she has. since that week, 5 months ago, she has suffered from many frustrating symptoms that have really worn her down and complicated daily life. so this week, she and her husband traveled the 6 hours up to Minnisota to go the Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.org. this is pretty much their last hope in diagnosing her problems. so i am asking that you would pray for them as it is a strain financially, emotionally, and physically on them. pray that the doctors (who are supposed to be the best in the world i think) would be able to pinpoint what she has and how to treat it. and pray that the LORD would provide for their needs. medical bills are not the easiest thing to deal with. ash doesn't put too much of this on her blog, and i understand that. but i want you to know what they are going through and how much this is affecting their lives. and since she IS my best friend and i love her dearly!

emma-claire and busy week

well, i suppose it's about time i put up some pictures of my beautiful niece Emma-Claire. the first one on the left is my favorite!! isn't that the most pitiful look ever? the second one is the best in terms of seeing what she really looks like. the third is her and her daddy, my brother sam, and the last one is her attempt to make friends with the cat. unfortunately, i don't have one with her and her mom, but that's on the roll that's still in the camera! Emma is about 14 months old now and they live in katy, tx, just outside of housten. a lllloooonnngggg way away. i miss them alot. they were here the week after christmas. my parents are flying down to see them over easter. i'm not sure when dave and i will be able to see them next. unless plane tickets get super cheap this summer, probably not until next thanksgiving or christmas. too long...but money doesn't grow on trees. anyway...on a different note, david and i have been house/babysitting for my parents this week while they are away on vacation. it's actually been pretty uneventful (although you'd think differently being with a 12-yr. old brother and a 15-yr. old sister!) but they've been great. i've been working extra this week for my dad. i've opened the shop early every morning and then worked mon. and wed. like normal. tues, today and tom. i just open, stay a few hours until enough staff get there, and then do whatever office stuff i need to do and then go home! it's been very busy and i'm exhausted. but, hey, any extra hours and extra money is worth it! speaking of working, i have to be up at 5 am tomorrow, so i need to go to bed. have a great week!

update and chocolate

it's been a while...and for that i apologize. our christmas and new year's were wonderfully relaxing! my brother, sister-in-law and niece were able to come up the week after christmas for 4 days, sam, ashley and emma-claire. emma is just over 1 year old...she is so cute! when i get my pictures back, i will post some. its was wonderful to see them since they live in housten, tx. it is rare that we are able to spend time with them. we had a few days off of work as well, so it ended up being a much needed vacation.
david has finally found a job! he started working at staples this week. he will be working in the copy center, which he is now finding out will probably be a difficult job. but he's training this week and really doesn't know how the job will treat him yet. this is his second day. he is thinking he'd still like to work at the country club again this summer as he knows the people, the job requirements, and will be getting $1/hr. more than last summer. so staples might just be the in-between job he needs until may.
i finally am getting around to taking our christmas things down. i was sick all last week, and just wasn't able to get to it sooner. the hilarious thing is that the tree is completely dead and every time you bump it, there is a shower (literally!) of needles! we have a green needle carpet now! we'll see how that turns out later tonight when we take the tree out! other than that, things here are as normal as normal can be. work is work...bills are bills...nothing new or exciting. except that i hit the bath and body works semi-annual sale yesterday and was able to stock up a little for the next 6 months!! always a good deal!
and about the picture...this is my new favorite chocolate bar. dagoba chocolate is organic and this is dark chocolate with lavender and blueberries. sounds weird, i know. but trust me!!! it is amazing! for those of you who live around here, you can get it at Everything Natural in clarks summit. and for those who don't, here is their website www.dagobachocolates.com i wholeheartedly recommend it.
well, i need to go so i hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy the chocolate! go buy it!

Best Buy Dance and Christmas Lights

here's a great link! it cracked me up. hey ash, what makes this even funnier is that the guy kinda looks like your dad!!

Best Buy Dance

here's a good christmas one.

Christmas Lights

preparing for christmas and the chronicles of narnia

i decided to use a festive color tonight. it matches my picture! well, it has been a while since i have written. since my last post, david and i enjoyed a wonderful time with his family. we celebrated Christmas with them since we won't be able to make it out again this month. the past few weeks have been busy, and quite fun decorating our house for Christmas. although we had been married for 1 week last year at Christmastime, this year feels more like our first Christmas together. mainly because last year, when we should've been waking up and enjoying a holiday with presents and family, we were stuck in the Tampa airport, and then at the Philadelphia airport for hours and hours trying to get home from our honeymoon (which we spent in the blissful paradise in Key West). so it never did feel like Christmas last year. this year, we went to a local tree farm and went searching for that perfect tree. dave cut it down and we tied it atop my blazer. it was so fun! neither of us had ever cut down a tree before! well, we quickly realized we probably should've measured how much room we had, because our tree is very big! beautiful! but big! i had so much fun decorating it and putting up other Christmasy things around the house. i pulled out all of the pine tree smelling candles, and our house smells delicious! i love this time of year! it's so nostalgic and homey. warm and inviting. i think next year i will try to plan a Christmas party! doesn't that sound like fun? all the candles burning, the tree lit, Nat King Cole serenading in the background...coffee and pie. mmmm....definately going to do that next year!
other than that, we've been doing well. david is still looking for a full-time job. the country club officially closed once we got snow on the ground! he still works at the roadhouse, and put an application in at Home Depot. but their system is weird and he won't know about it until next week. so....until then...waiting, hoping, trusting that God will provide for our needs. of all the months in the year for dave to not have a job, december has got to be the worst!!! oh well, what can you do?
on top of that, i had a bit of a minor accident last week. if you want all the dramatic details, ask ashley, Aspirant Artistry, she was on the phone with me through the whole thing!! basically, i hit black ice, and by the time i saw it, i was already sliding my way around a curve and down a hill. i ended up in a ditch, hitting so hard that i got a flat tire and wrecked the alignment pretty good. through the kindness of the neighbors there, i had a warm house for 20 min. while i waited for the tow truck. to make a long story short, Kost Tire fixed my flat for no charge (probably b/c they wanted to make customers out of us) and the tow only cost $45, which dave will be able to make up in an extra shift at work. but now we have the dilemma...do we fix the car (which has become an annoying money pit) or do we just try to sell it and get another car, which we knew would happen sooner or later. not sure yet...especially with dave's job still up in the air. but it's drivable. dave takes it now though, as he feels safer with me driving his car. guess we'll just see what happens.
other than that, nothing too new and exciting. we celebrate our first anniversary in a week! 1 whole year!!! can you believe it??? i can't. i'll have to post some pictures from our wedding next week.
by the way, go see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. it's phenomenol! but, you MUST read the book first! it's not that long...definately better. actually, if you read The Magician's Nephew first and then The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it will make much more sense. it is the first one (chronologically, not in the order he wrote them though). The Magician's Nephew is to the rest of the books as The Hobbit is to the rest of the trilogy. it puts everything in perspective and explains things that otherwise could be confusing. they're relatively short books....please read them first!!!
well, this is getting a bit long...hope you all have a good weekend! bye for now.

thanksgiving trip

david and i are in Indiana this week. we were supposed to drive out yesterday, leave at 7 am and drive the 10 hrs. we've been planning on it for a while...well, things didn't exactly turn out the way we hoped. you see, i worked at the cafe monday, and dave worked at the country club. well, since weather is a very important factor at the golf club, they have a radar that shows weather and storm systems. on my way home from work and last minute shopping, around 4 pm, dave calls me and tells me there is a huge storm heading straight for us. he described it as a wall extending from Louisiana horizontally up to us. we were going to get hit with most likely snow sometime tues. morning. our solution? pack and leave that night. let me tell you...it's not the most pleasant thing to get up at 5:30 am, work 8 hrs., come home and do ALL of the packing, eat a quick dinner, do the dishes (since we'll be gone for 6 days) and then pack the car and be on the road at 9:30 pm with 10 hrs. of driving ahead of you!! but we felt there wasn't much option, according to the weather. we stopped at the cafe on the way out and stocked up on coffee (free coffee is always the best! just thought i'd gloat about that) and away we were! david is an amazing man. he drove the whole way! and we made it in 9 hrs! unfortunately, all of the panera bread's were closed so we couldn't refuel our coffee mugs, but somehow, the LORD kept us awake and energized the whole trip! i slept for about 1 1/2 hrs. around 4 am and we pulled in just before 7. we slept alot yesterday! today is much better...it's snowing here! the first snow we've seen! there's about 1-2 in. on the ground, enough to make it look beautifully white! david is out getting a hair cut from his sister, deb. she has a job at a local salon after working her way through beauty school. anna, his other sister, is here with sandy (dave's mom) baking lots of pies and cookies for tomorrow's feast! i suppose i should go help out...it's so wonderful to be here with family! i hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! enjoy your families and eat lots of turkey!

this week

this week has been a challenging one. david worked monday at the golf course, but because of the bad and cold weather, did not work tuesday, wednesday, thursday or today. in one sense, it's been really nice for him to have so much time off. i worked monday-wednesday, so tuesday and wednesday he came down to the cafe and spent the whole day there reading, studying and journaling. i must confess i've been a little jealous. on the other hand, when he doesn't work, he doesn't get a paycheck! on wednesday, he accidentally set the alarm for p.m. instead of a.m. i was supposed to be at work at 6:30 a.m. but was woken up at 7 by the phone! thankfully my dad wasn't upset. i was an hour late to work, but he knows that accidents happen and they are infrequent indeed! david was very sweet...he felt so bad that he brought me a beautiful red gerbera daisy to cheer me up! we have an awesome little florist's shop next door to us and we like to give each other business. the day ended up being a good one. anyway, back to the financial thing...david has been great with our budget, it's so nice to not have to worry about that. i trust his judgment and he handles our finances wonderfully! he's in the process of trying to find a new job, but that has been difficult since the country club hasn't officially closed. he can't get a new one if the old one isn't done. he still has the roadhouse job, but there is no garaunteed money, so how do set a budget on that?
anyway...God will provide, we feel very confident about that.

on an exciting note, we are going to IN for thanksgiving. we're leaving tuesday and staying until sunday. i can't wait!!! i love his family so much. it's such a wonderful relief to have in-laws that are so much fun to be with! it will be a good vacation for us.
i hope you are all having a good weekend! i miss you all and think of you often. until next time...

work and shopping

well, it's been a while. i figured out how to put links on my page,
although, as you can see, i still have some technical problems.
any advice would be welcomed!
life has been stop and go lately. i've been working monday-wednesday, then thursday and friday off, then work again saturday night. i guess it's been good. work is work.
my day consists of baking for the cafe, preparing the soups for the lunch rush, sometimes shopping at target, sam's club, or michael's for the cafe. i always enjoy getting paid to shop!

www.teaforte.com

today, november 11, marks the 3rd year of business for our cafe.
it's hard to believe it's been that long! now that the colder weather is setting in, we've been getting busier and busier. we've started carrying some unique retail items, such as organic chocolate, vegan bars, a specialty tea in pyramid shaped silk tea bags,
tea cups and saucers, and a couple of other things. we're hoping that the Christmas season will boost our retail sales.

other than work, david and i received a wonderful gift in the mail the other day. someone from IN that he knows sent us a very very
belated wedding card and gift. in it was a gift card to Bed Bath and
Beyond for $100!!!!!! talk about shopping spree! we went out last night and wandered around the store about 2 times before putting anything in the cart, then after trying out every single massage chair they had set out, started figuring out what we were going to get! i picked out a few kitchen items, a great-smelling yankee candle, some card games for our long Indiana trips, a canvas hanging sweater storage thing for the closet and a few other random things. the weird thing was that it was HARD trying to find $100 worth of stuff! you'd think it would be the complete opposite! i don't know what it was, but it was alot more difficult than it should've been! oh well, it was still a blast, and we enjoyed it, b/c we know that won't be happening anytime soon again!

well, i think it is about that time. gotta jet. hope you have a great weekend! love to you all.