How do you spend your Friday nights......

I bet I have a new one for most of you.....

I spent last night(Friday) at a Mennonite farm with Doug. He got a call that he needed to come out and look at this cow that had a possible right side twist. Layman's terms means part of the "stomach" (rumon) area had flipped and he would need to go in and fix it.

So we pull up to the farm and there are several buggies around and it's your average Mennonite farm. I still get excited about these people, mostly because they live so differently from me. The nice thing about Mennonite's is that some of them have electricity. This is great when you are talking about surgery on a cow. Imagine doing that by candle light since it was already dark out. So we go in and talk with the guy and Doug decides that we do in fact have to do surgery. The farmer asked if he needed to stay, because if not, he needed to ride up the road and would be back in about 15 minutes. Obviously, he wasn't going far in his buggy. Doug tells him that we can handle it and so he heads out. Let me back up for a moment. There are a few things that you need to know about this setting; a) we are in a tie stale barn(basically there are lots of cows in a long row of stales tied to bar so they can't get out and not much space between them) b) there are two dogs trying to get into all our stuff and c) the guys wife is there watching with her 6 month old baby in a stroller in between the two rows of cows. So back to the story. So the guy leaves and his wife and two dogs are still there, and Doug starts doing his thing. I am there hanging out and trying to help Doug draw up meds and do anything I can to help. The next thing I know, the farmers wife is gone and there sits the 6 month old in the stroller with the dogs licking all over her.

Now two things are going through my mind at the same time. The first of which is when he said "we need to run up the road and will be back in 15 minutes", I hope this did not mean his wife too, because if so, they FORGOT THE BABY! And the other thought is the two dogs, that obviously spend their time in with the cows, are licking this child's face. Now I am sure that when we have kids that our dogs are going to lick them, it happens all the time, but these dogs have been playing in manure. This can not be a good thing for the kid. Well, after what felt like forever, the woman finally comes back and then leaves and then comes back, repeat, repeat. Finally when we started the actually surgery, she decided to stick around. I guess she was just interested to see what was going on.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience! Got to help Doug out, which I actually find fun to do. Even when that means holding a cows tail straight up in the air so that it can't kick Doug while he cuts a huge whole in it's side. Large animal surgery is an interesting thing, we did it right there in the barn, with the cow stand up, and no way to keep it "sterile". Not something that would ever flying in human medicine, which I am used too. And I did talk with the lady for a bit, when Doug didn't need me, which I find intriguing.

I am sure as time goes on, there will be plenty more of these stories, so stay tuned.....

Do you like your boss......

As I stated in my previous post, I really enjoy my job and love my boss, and here is why......

How many times, in the same week, has your boss; taken you to lunch(and paid), told you not to do something, that she would do it herself because you hurt your shoulder, and then later decided to massage your shoulders to try and help with the pain? Well, I can now say, I have.

Beth might just be the most down to earth boss, besides myself, of course. I had a really great boss at my last job too, don't get me wrong. I guess now that I think about it, I have been lucky lately in that department. The past two weeks have supposedly been stressful for Beth. I told her last week that if this was her stressed out, then I can handle that. I haven't even seen her break a sweat over anything. She is the most relaxed "stressed" person I have ever met.

For the above fore mentioned statement.....We had a large shipment of training books arrive in the office Tuesday that had to be sorted and moved to the locations of the training. We spent two hours Tuesday afternoon sorting through everything and re-labeling them. I felt a little stiff after the next morning but not horrible. Then on Wednesday I received another huge shipments of boxes with last years PSSA test scores. They too had to be sorted and then sent out to the schools. When I woke up Thursday morning, it was all over. I felt like an eight year old woman! So of course when I got to work on Thursday everyone could tell that something was up by the way I was walking. Since I was supposed to be going to the schools, to make sure that everything was set up for the afternoon training, my boss told me to sit in my chair and do nothing. Well nothing that would hurt me any worse. I tried to explain that it wasn't that bad and I would be okay, but she left to do it herself. I felt really bad that she went and worried that it looked bad that I wasn't useful, but I found out when she got back that was not the case. When Beth got back she came to check on me and see how my back was doing and decided that she would try to massage my shoulders to help(the pain was in my upper left shoulder)! Then she told me that since I had been working so hard, to make sure that everything was going as planned, she was going to take me to lunch on Friday.

It was a nice lunch too. I learned a lot about her personally and her family. It was just the two of us, hanging out, getting to know each other. Like I said she is down to earth. We hardly talked about the office at all. She was very interested to learn things about where I came from and what brought Doug and I here. I think all in all I am really going to like working for her.

Ps. After spending the evening laying on a heating pad and then Doug doing a little messaging my shoulders are doing great.

The all inspiring, uninspired......

The hardest thing about starting over is that you usually know little to nothing about the journey in which you are about to embark. It's the same for starting over in a new location, job, or even relationship. We all make the choice at some point in our life to start a new path.

I have hit the "trifecta" of starting over; new location, new job, and new relationships. Obviously, to anyone who knows me, the location is our move to PA. We have been here for about three months now and I can't say it feels anymore like home than it did on day 7. I thought that getting back in to a normal way of life would make it feel more like me, more like home. I don't know if it will ever feel like home but at some point it has to feel "normal", right? Part of my normal life would be the fact that we get up and go to work everyday. Some work from home and some of us drive to a location, but we work. It's the normal, constant, in life. I made the statement one day, " I don't think I will ever feel settled until I get a job."

I have been at the school district for two weeks, and I have to say that I am loving my job. There is a lot of independence, which is something that I love, no employees to deal with. No phone calls on Monday morning at 6am with someone telling me that they are not coming to work, or their child is sick. And when that person calls in, there is no me having to do their job as well as mine. No pettiness between employees that I have to squish. It is quite refreshing! I also happen to love my boss. We have a lot of the same views of life. For one, life is too short to take it too serious. This always makes it easy to work with someone when they are not consumed in making everything overly serious and never able to enjoy the beauty of life. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses and watch the rainbow light up the sky after a storm. If you stress over everything that is thrown at you, you will never enjoy the full joy of the big picture. Now, I know that it has only been two weeks, but it still has that lost feeling. You know the feeling that you have no idea what's really going on. The time when everything seems to be perfect and you can't or haven't seen the cracks in the walls yet. That's where I am. I know that at some point this will feel more natural, the light will start to shine through the cracks and true personalities will shine. The good thing is, this is supposidly our busy/stressful time and if that's the case then I can handle this. Comparitively to what I have dealt with in the past this is a piece of cake if this is the busy season.

I have meet a lot people at work, but there is that longing for my friends. It's funny, since moving away from everyone I have ever known, I now look at people as potiental friends when I meet them. It's kind of funny I suppose, kind of like going on a date, the whole time you are trying to see if there is long term potiental there or not. I miss my friends, especially in times such as needing a shopping buddy, or wanting to go see a chick flick. And I find making new friends a trying and awkard situation sometimes. I don't know why it's weird for me, I guess some people are just better at it. At least Doug agress with me that it is a weird thing sometimes. I mean other than work, where do you meet people? Or atleast people that you will become friends with, since you can meet just "people" on the street corner. Then there is the factor that everyone, seriously everyone, I know here has kids. I mean I kind of feel like maybe we should start a family and join the crowd you know.......

The new jig.......

After my well enjoyed two month sabbatical, I have a new J O B!

I went for an interview last Thursday at the Cental Office for the Shippenburg Area School District. It was interesting to find, since coming from NC, that they do not have county schools around here. Everything is by area and there are 508 area school districts in PA. The job that I am accepting is Secretary to the Assistant Superintendent. Basically I will be her personal assistant.

After talking with her on the phone last Monday, she offered me the job and asked if we could meet yesterday so that we could go over my contract and details. It was a very pleasant meeting, I got to see my new desk and meet some of the people that we will be working with. They all seem very nice and can't wait for the everyday adult enteraction. Being a social person that has been the hardest part about my sabbatical, not talking to people all day long. I am excited that the girl who's desk is in the same room as me is around my age and seemed pretty cool. It's hard not having any of your friends around, like when I needed to go shopping for work clothes yesterday, and there was no one to call. Hopefully this will be a good oppritunity to make new friends.

Funny story about the Superintendent's secretary: she took her daughters dog to the vet last Friday. She knew that Doug was a vet so she asked where and then what he looked like. When she realized that's who treated her daughters dog, she started telling my how attractive my husband was. The funniest part was when she realized that she had only met me 5 minutes ago and she was talking about him. She immediately started apologizing and telling me that she didn't hit on him, just that he was really nice. It made me laugh, even though she had no idea that I wasn't worried about her hitting on my husband. I tried to make her feel better by saying it wasn't the first time and at least she was paying money.

So I am excited to start my new job, ready to get my feet wet. Although there is no training for the job, I think I can handle it. I know one of my first task will be making a master calendar of all the schools facuilty meetings so that I can schedule Beth's meetings with department heads, ect. Beth is my new boss, the new Asst. Super. She has only been there a couple of weeks, which makes me feel a little better, because she has no expectations of what's supposed to happen, anymore than I do, so we will be learning together. The down fall is that I have to be there at 7 am on Tuesday. Durning the summer they work "summer" hours which is 7 to 4:15 with Fridays off and then during the school year it is 8 to 3:30. Not bad, it's full time and I only have to work a 7 hour work day. I am telling you it is the job for me, Monday thru Friday and only 7 hours a day! I am such a slacker.

So that's the jist, the pay is not six figures, but hey we can't all be millionaires! Right?

Just an update....

Warning....not the most interesting blog ever written!

I know that there are people who follow this blog that I have unfortunately not been in constant contact with, so really this is just an update for you.

Things are going well for Doug and I in PA. I had the chance to spend two wonderful weeks in NC. One of which I was at my church's camp. If I have never told you this, I love that place. It is the place that I have spent almost ever Fourth of July since I was eight years old. It is the place I met Doug and then later got engaged there as well. (maybe we should have had the wedding there too) There are more memories made at this place than I could ever really tell you about. One of the reasons I love this so much is the kids. It makes me happy to know that maybe in some small way, in this crazy and wicked world, that I will have a positive effect on these kids. That maybe something I have said or done will inspire them to go out and be better people. Not only do I spend my time teach them, but I am also learning. In order to teach them I have to know what I am talking about, which means countless hours preparing, reading my Bible, and contemplating what to say. I even, thanks to my sister, got up and did morning watch at 7:30 am. And if you know me at all, you know the last thing I ever want to do is, have to give a speech at 7:30 am. I don't even like talking to anyone until I have been awake for an hour. It was one of the best groups and weeks we have had there.

The rest of my trip was spent visiting with family and friends all over NC. I managed to drive somewhere around 1500 miles in that time period. At least it was in Doug's car, right? Just kidding honey! I spent more time with my mom and sister than I did when I was living in Raleigh. No worries, I do love my brother and saw him, he just doesn't come to camp with us. At least not yet, maybe I will start working on that for next year. It was great to have a solid week of being in the same place all the time with many members of my family. I think that I am related to half the counselors at camp. I also got to visit some friends, and some I am sad that I missed. I realized that it will be hard to continue to see people when I go home. There is just not enough hours in the day. I was exhausted after being there for three days, running none stop.

Now that I am back home, here in PA, I have to start my job hunt. Not something that I am looking forward to. One because I am really enjoying my housewife job and two because it means that I am really staying and this is happening. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just felt more like a vacation than a home. On the up side of my job situation, the sooner I get one, the sooner we will likely be able to buy a house. I am excited that we have an appointment with the bank next week, so we can get this ball rolling.

Doug's job is going well. Although I wouldn't ask him at the end of this week, he may say otherwise. There will be lots of hours put in this week. I think that for the most part he is settling right in. And he really seems to enjoy it. Which, I might add, is great. Otherwise, I might hurt him if we moved all the way here and he didn't like it.

Well that's about it...for now! Thanks for following!

Time flies when you are having fun.....

"Time flies when you are having fun" I am not sure who the original author of that statement is, but they hit the nail on the head. I think that many people would agree that when you have a week off for vacation it just never seems like it last a week. Well, I have the same problem with my sabbatical, as I like to call it. I had planned on taking a little over a month off before trying to find a job. This seems like a fair amount of time, except that I have already been through three weeks of that time. I was sure that after a month of not working I would be going crazy to get out of the house. The sad truth is, I am loving it. I get so much done and don't feel like I spend all of my time rushed and not getting to enjoy any of it. I say "sad truth" because I have to get a job, so my husband tells me. He has been gracious enough to let me go this long, but there are things in life that we want, i.e. not to be poor anymore, oh and buy a house. It's another one of those bittersweet moments I seem to keep having in my life. I want so much to buy a house, as in yesterday, but I don't want to get a job. What's a girl to do?

Everything else is going well. I am excited about my trip to NC next week. I will be there for two weeks! One of which will be my church camp. I am really excited about camp for many reasons. One, the obvious, because it's camp. And two, because my mom and sister will be there, which means I can spend hours on end with them everyday. Now if I could only get my brother involved in this!?! (Humm....note to self, work on that) My plan is to be in NC a few days before camp and then a few days after. And I have a sneaky suspition that those will be some full days of traveling and seeing many different people. There are a lot of people to see in a small amount of time. Thankfully, many of the people I want to see will be with me for the entire week of camp. I am a little of affraid, that after two weeks, it will be hard to come back. Good thing I love my husband and will miss him dearly.

You know it's actually kind of odd, I am okay! I know that seems odd to say, but I thought I would have this crazy mental breakdown being so far away, but it hasn't happened. I am actually happy (which I am glad about). Maybe I just built up all this anxiety about it before the move that it could not live up to my standards. It also helps that the people we know here (Doug's coworkers) have been super nice to invite us to many events. We have been to birthday parties, church events, and they handled me well during the imfamous dog event. I think I had about six new mom's that day. Which is great when you know no one, you are in shock, your hands are bleeding and you can not find your husband. Some how through that whole mess, they don't think I am crazy. Doug keeps telling them I am but they won't listen(kidding......maybe).

So all in all, just an update, that life is still good!

Yankee Doodle Dandy.....

We have arrived!

Doug and I have spent our first week here in Pennsylvania. We drove up on Sunday, May 31st, along with my in-laws and my brother (and his family). The drive up was not bad, minus the cat jumping on the dashboard in front of me, she rode the rest of the way in the carrier. It went pretty quickly, I recommend listening to audio books on long drives, it makes the time go faster. It was great to have some family with us for our first few days in PA. They got to see our new place and some of the sites around the city and country side.

Once the family left, on Tuesday, we made the rest of the week pretty productive. We got PA car insurance, new drivers license, and my tag changed on my car. I guess it is official, I am a PA resident, no longer a North Carolinian. We also spent a lot of time driving around, getting to know the area and looking for houses for sale. The duplex we live in, in town, is a temporary stop until we buy a house. It's weird living in the city like this, you only have to walk down three steps out my front door and you are on the sidewalk. There is also a lot traffic on our road. I think people like using our road to avoid all the stop lights on main street. We are only two blocks off main street, aka King Street. It will be nice once we buy a house to get out of the city, where things are a little more quiet. One thing we have to get use to in the mean time is that the trash man comes in the middle of the night on Sundays. When I say middle of the night, they came around 3 am last night! I am glad they only come once a week since it is not something I can sleep through. Who know trash trucks were so loud?

For the most part week one felt a lot like a vacation. Neither one of us working, and no where in particular to be. Today marks my first day as a temporary stay at home wife. Doug started work today, so I have been entertaining my self all alone. It's kind of weird. I am used to Doug having time off during the summers where I would go to work while Doug stayed home. So that will take some getting used to. I say it is a temporary stay at home because once I get back from NC at the beginning on July I have to get a job. The sooner I get a job the sooner we can buy a house, since we need money. In the meantime, it will be nice to not have a clock to punch everyday.

Ps. I have put some pics of our place up on facebook and will try to get pictures uploaded to flickr soon! Stay tuned for more on our adventure in Pennsylvania!