Cheap yumminess!

Btw, these are very yummy.  We had them for dinner tonight with some taco-seasoned chicken.  Cheap and delish!

Here's the link to the recipe. Burrito cups

Unsettled

Today was my last day at TJ for the year.  I'm not sure if I'll be returning next year (still waiting on the job front), so it was kind of weird saying "goodbye for the summer, but also maybe goodbye forever."  I'm supposed to officially start my summer job on Monday, so I have less than a week before it all starts up again.

Jake is waiting to hear about a job and if he is not successful there, then he will be continuing the job search.

This is totally not where I expected us to be at just under 5 years of marriage.  There's obviously a reason for the season that we are in, but I'm very ready to be settled.  The problem is, even if Jake gets this job it is only for one year and then we will be looking for jobs all over again.

Someday, oh someday, we will be settled in for the long haul.

Boys and Dogs

I haven't blogged in a really long time.  From the looks of my previous post, some of you might be hanging on the edge of your seat to know whether or not Jake passed his exam.

As if any of you didn't already know about 2 months ago, but he passed. :)

Also, for the record, I want this dog someday.  South African Mastiff, otherwise known as a Boerboel.  Other mastiffs don't look that cute when full-grown (most have really droopy faces), but this one is amazing.  Also, their personality and habits sound delightful.  (We're not just going for the looks; we've been thinking about this dog for about a year now.)

Also, don't tell anyone but there is a house we drove by one time that had a dog that looked similar to this one in their driveway.  We recently found the house again so that we could drive by and look for their dog.  We saw it again today.  I hope they don't start to think we want to rob their house or something.  It's just an amazing dog.

Jake's exam!

This whole post is make sure that everyone is aware that Jake has his comprehensive exams on Saturday (2/25) and that you all should be praying for him.  He's super nervous and with it being a 6 hour exam, it's going to be pretty intense.  It's all written and has 3 hours of exam in the morning, then gets a lunch break, then 3 more hours in the afternoon.  His hand is going to hurt quite a bit.

If you all could be praying for:
1. Nerves
2. Clarity of thought
3. Diminished pain in his hand/wrist which could distract from #2
4. Him to realize that he can only do his best, and that life will go on if he has to retake any/all of the exam. :)

Thanks!

Oh, and p.s. here is the post I wrote way back when I was nervous about comps.  I think I was hiding my nerves a bit.

Deal of the month

I have been waiting for a deal on my hair gel/shampoo/conditioner since that stuff costs so much.  The hair gel costs $2.97 a pop and I go through one about every couple of weeks.  Pricy stuff.

Long story short, I found a great coupon and asked my father-in-law to send me a bunch more of so I could get a great deal.  I combined the coupons with some awesome in-store deals and paid only $11.14 for all of this:

Except for the fact that we had a gift card to this grocery store from the church who give us some free food, so we paid NOTHING for it.  Let's look at the savings.

Normal Cost: $55.64
Cost to us: $0

Score!  Thanks to my father-in-law and some luck, I'd say we got a great deal. :)

Challenges

We've been having a pretty rough couple of weeks.  We took our car in to get an oil change and came out with $4200 worth of damage we needed to fix.  That amount was basically all of our fund we have been saving up for years for a second car (which we desperately need).

I spent a lot of time crying last week and alternating being mad at/having peace with God.  It's really hard because I have been meticulous about budgeting since we need another car so badly, but apparently this is God's way of stripping the control that I have been holding on to.  I don't like it, and I don't know what is going to happen next, but I'm going to have to trust God (gotta love it when you're forced to do something that you know you needed to do in the first place).

Anyway, I had been planning to write about a cool savings that we got before this whole car thing, and I think I should still write it.  One more post to come.

Fridge Art

I recently took down this picture from my refrigerator... (I colored it in my math class.  The kids didn't really need my help the whole time, so I decided to participate as well.  Note the comment at the bottom from the teacher!)

...and put up this one.

I feel like the schedule is hard to see, but it's the best that I could do.  We now have a plan for the semester!  Notice how much time Jake will be spending in the library.  Also note that I am only scheduled to work 40 hours a week!  (I told Dick's that I needed some time off.)  I will still babysit on a non-consistent basis, so that'll bring in a bit as well.

You will also note that we are exercising 5x per week (and hopefully will be doing an 8-min ab workout every morning).  I haven't done much exercise in the last couple of weeks because I am still battling being sick (I had a sinus infection that turned into bronchitis, and I've had that for quite some time now), so starting this schedule is a challenge.  Jake and I played racquetball yesterday, and it was super fun.  I had a blast.

And to answer your question that I am sure you were thinking (ok, maybe not): yes, I am VERY sore.  Racquetball really took it out of me, but I LOVE it. :)