I'm Lovin It

I am currently sitting at a McDonalds in San Antonio eating chicken nuggets and passing the time until Philip calls me to pick him up from a huge building down the road. He was unexpectedly laid off one week and one day ago, and today he is interviewing and taking a test for GE Oil and Gas. If all goes well, we will both be moving to northeast San Antonio in a matter of weeks... most likely before Christmas! The original plan was for him to come by himself, but we decided it would be prudent for me to come along in case he DOES get hired today so that we can look for an apartment (or house) and get to know this part of town better. I have no idea how long this interview and test will take, which is why I came prepared with a fully charged laptop, cellphone, and pocket Sudoku book.
I can't really say how I feel about suddenly moving out of Corpus Christi. I have been excited for January to come so that I can start on my GIS certificate at TAMUCC, but I have also been wanting more for us than just existing... and that's pretty much all there is to do in Corpus. We had always imagined settling down in San Antonio for good, but I just didn't imagine it would come so quickly.
Philip is extremely excited about this job. For starters, it means he actually has a chance at a career with an international company, instead of the usual hit and miss contracts with his previous company who hired and laid off people in a matter of minutes. Although I have been worried about money since he was laid off, I must admit I have loved this past week. The side of Phil that I fell in love with finally came back out after two days of getting enough sleep and not being away from home for 16 hours of the day. (Last night he walked the dog, swept the living room, made dinner, and did the dishes! Plus, today he has promised to fight the crowds at HEB and go grocery shopping with me! Who IS this man? hahaha)
Well, I have now finished eating my 10 chicken nuggets and now it's time to "help" Philip out with his English homework. He's decided his last paper of the semester is going to be about Wonder Woman and I am going to help him find sources to cite. Should take about 20 minutes, I'm good at this stuff.

Tithing Miracles

Each blessing comes through obedience to a certain law, and although I have no doubt in this, there is one particular blessing which has been tried and tested time and time again throughout my life more than any other. It has been easy to see the results because they have always been so immediate, and there is absolutely no way they could have happened without divine intervention. I am talking about the law of tithing. Give the Lord 10% of your earnings, and he will return so many blessings that there will be no room to receive them.
I have chosen to record the many divine wonders in the following list. My only regret is not having done so sooner.

1. November 22, 2013. Philip was unexpectedly laid off 3 days ago and has been searching for a new job ever since. We expected him to keep this job at least for another month and then go right into a different one, so it caught us extremely off guard. Since we are in some debt, all of his high earnings have gone to pay it off what we could, so we hardly added anything to our savings. As of today we are still wondering how we will get through the most expensive months of the year and hoarding as much money as possible. Today, I came back from my lunch break to find a note on my desk from my boss. He has managed this company for over 5 years and never given any sort of bonuses to his employees. This year, however, I found a handwritten Thank-You note and $250 cash. I just want to go over and hug him... but apart from being inappropriate it would be the most awkward moment of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that this was an answer to our prayers. 

Excluders

Its quiet and peaceful in the office today, but probably not for long. Dale's quote of the day is as follows:

"You know what a turtle excluder is? For shrimping, when a turtle gets in the net it's thrown back out and we just keep the shrimp. We need a Miglini Excluder. When Michael comes in and sits at his desk, he get's kicked out of his desk and we don't see him for the rest of the day."

Things About Dam

Remember when "about me" lists were super popular on myspace and facebook just because people love talking about themselves? I loved those. I have just completed a 1-hour project at work which was supposed to take 8 hours, so that's the main reason for this list. It's super fun and relaxing to type away.

1. Daydreaming while driving is probably my favorite pastime 
2. I love making lists, itineraries, plans, brainstorming, etc for any occasion so much that almost 90% of these are hypothetical or fictional. 
3. I can't stand the sound of pencils or colored pencils scratching away on paper. 
4. Organizing things, especially books, is as therapeutic and relaxing for me as neck massage can be for other people. 
5. I firmly believe that creativity spawns from a blank slate, and by blank slate I mean a clean kitchen for cooking, a cleared desk for writing, an organized bedroom for decorating, etc. I apply this to nearly every aspect of my life. 
6. I am a book hoarder, and I am especially drawn to mass-market paperbacks because I can fit more of them on shelves. It frustrates me that when a new book comes out, it is almost always only available in hard-back copies. 
7. Watered-down dish or hand soap is disgusting. 
8. I've secretly always wanted a tattoo. Or several. 
9. I never really learned how to do anything to my hair besides a ponytail or bun. 
10. I have zero tolerance for pain. 
11. I would suck at drinking alcohol... I can't even take NyQuil without acting like a retard. 
12. I can't stand shows like NCIS because the reality of it makes me either depressed or have nightmares or both. Same goes for scary movies. 
13. Whenever I'm having a hard day I go read a Harry Potter book. 
14. I can't fall asleep if my feet are cold. 
15. Fake fingernails are gross. 
16. When books or movies don't have a happily ever after ending, I make my own up and convince myself that that's how it really ended. 
17. I'm a super light sleeper; the softest touch or sound will wake me. 
18. I despise alarm clocks. 
19. I'm not a fan of milk. I think it's strange that humans are the only mammal which still drinks milk after achieving physical maturity. 
20. I'm fluent in Spanish, yet I suck at translating anything. 
21. I love to bake desserts for other people, but if it goes unnoticed I lose all confidence and take it extremely personally and won't make that same thing for a long time. 
22. Cooking is like art to me. Just like a real painting isn't done with a "color by numbers" then a real dish shouldn't be made with a recipe, or else you're just copying someone else's work. 
23. Cicadas and rain are my favorite sounds. 
24. As soon as it starts raining my mood improves, no matter what. 
25. I am not a fan of windy days. 
26. I am annoyingly frugal with some things. Like if I can re-use that piece of aluminum foil 5 times, I will. And I always cut my paper towels in half and use only one piece. 
27. Record-keeping is another therapeutic pastime. I have at least 10 journals and multiple notepads full of seemingly meaningless information. 
28. I despise clutter and hoarding. 
29. I believe that every object in the house should have a permanent "home" of where it should go and not be floating around from surface to surface, like that annoying nail clipper which never stays in the same spot. 
30. I have a hard time writing the letter W and the number 8. I always pause for a second before I write and tell myself "ok, ok, I can do this". 
31. I have ASMR. A dog chewing on a bone will trigger it. I discovered it when I was 5 but didn't realize there was a name for it until two months ago. 
32. I am extremely comfortable with silence. Sometimes I uncontrollably wince when someone starts talking too loudly.  
33. I've already grown bored of this list, but the fact that this is number 33 makes it impossible for me to just stop listing things. 
34. I never thought I looked like either of my parents until sometime this year when random photos were taken of me and I somehow saw my mom in them. Point of interest, it also creeps me out how I open my mouth and my mom comes out sometimes. 
35. For about 5 years I haven't gone a day without applying Burts Bees Lip Balm right after brushing my teeth. 

Sleep Working?

Did ya'll know that Philip talks in his sleep? I'm thinking of sleeping with a notepad next to our bed so that I can write down our conversations. I find it funny that he ALWAYS thinks he's at work. Here's our conversation last night:

Me: I love you boo
Phil: It's what, two-eighths or three-eighths?
Me: uh.... its three-eighths
Phil: ok thanks
Me: what are we talking about?
Phil: the stud against the pipes
Me: Oh ok
Phil: *rolls over and continues sleeping*

Sometimes when he's awake I have trouble understanding what he says, but when he sleep talks he speaks in a very clear voice, and even says thank you! Haha, I love my hubby. Can you believe we've been married for almost 4 months already?! Seems like no time has gone by.