Here fishy fishy fishy...

I have an urge to get another pet. Not the first time I've had the urge, but I really REALLY want another pet.

After a bit of thought, and goofing off on the internet, I decided I want this little guy...



I want to put him on my desk at work and call him Ryuk.

He's a betta fish. They're small, easy to take care of, and you can put a plant (with white roots) on top of the bowl/tank and make it even prettier. But I found the tank I want, too, and it doesn't have a spot for the plant on top. (view this site to find out more about making your own betta fish vase.)

But I can't have this little guy at work. So I want him at home. Or something equally cute. Or fun. Or something.

In God's Timing...

3 1/2 weeks ago, we told our houseguest that she needed to find somewhere else to go within the next 2 weeks since nothing was happening.

The Monday after the weekend she was supposed to be out, she told us she had found a place that was willing to work with her on rent, but she couldn't move in until the following weekend. We extended our deadline.

Since that time she has:

Gotten a full-time stable job

Finished a program to have her drivers license reinstated

Received her son's birth certificate (she has been waiting for this for 8 weeks)

Rented a storage unit for her stuff

Is trying to set herself up to be able to get her own place soon.

Thank you, God, for not being limited by my own selfishness and timeline. And for having everything fall into place when I didn't think I could handle any more.

She has most of her stuff out of the house, and will be staying the night tonight, and leaving keys when she heads out to work tomorrow morning.

The world is run by the cute.

So says Happy Bunny.

I'm behind. I don't even remember everything I have to post, and I wouldn't have time to post it all even if I did remember.

Just wanted to say hi.

Our roommate is NOT gone yet. When she called the other night to say she wouldn't be home she said she couldn't get ahold of the guy who was going to rent her the room so "it will probably be next weekend, if that's ok" to which we replied "We can talk about it."

We told her she has to be out Wednesday. I have no real hope for that as it seems as though Heath doesn't mind giving her more time if she needs it. I, on the other hand, am not. It's only natural that she develop a crush on the guy who is being nice to her and helping her through a tough time, and I'm fine with it, for a little while, but we're going on 10 weeks here and that is just too long to live so close with someone who has a crush on your husband.

Work is still good. Busy.

That's all for now.

TTFN

September?

When did that happen? Where did my summer go?

We still have our house guests, with no sign of them ever leaving. Still not on the waiting list for the apartment with Shelter Care Ministries and now her wages have gone DOWN.
Apparently, the company is being bought and the new owners have decided they don't need to pay hourly wages, people can work for tips only... in a place where they don't get alot of business, so there's not alot of tips, either. When you employ illegal immigrants, you can get away with this because nobody will turn you in. These people are working hard and whether they are illegal or not, everyone there is treated like slave labor. Sad.

On the upside, I got her an interview and a restaraunt on Monday. This one is closer to our house and definitely not the type to TOTALLY screw an employee over. The hiring manager seemed pretty excited to have a prospect. Keep her in your prayers.

I have purchased the domain tailoredtohire.com and planned on having it up and running by now. It's not up and running. But with good reason. I am working on a website for my boss, who is running for Illinois State Representative. Pretty exciting since I know absolutely nothing about politics. Since Heath is now out of the hospital and healing nicely, I have devoted all my spare time to this website. I have learned all sorts of new things and am excited to be able to use a lot of it for my tailoredtohire page. I am currently working on getting his announcement speech on his site (electjimthompson.com) but am having some difficulty. Ok, a lot of difficulty. 7 hours last night (I kept falling asleep for a few minutes, then waking up and trying something new that wouldn't work and then starting over again) I finally gave up and shut it down ... well... I don't know. The last time I really looked at the clock was 1:30. I have been working on it about 3 hours today. I have checked the coding and am positive it is done correctly. Heath finally mentioned that maybe our Host Server doesn't have the option to play video turned on. Wish he would have brought that to my attention oh, say 24 hours ago. I am trying to go through photobucket until we get that resolved. I'm not using my Picassa account because that puts the account information on the video and that's not very professional. Hopefully photobucket doesn't do the same. We'll find out shortly.

So, there you have it. That is where I have disappeared to this week. And probably most of next. I was honored to have him ask me to write it and to be able to support him as I agree with the views I have heard him express in my almost year of employment with him. Also excited to attend all the political shindigs that I never thought I would ever be interested in. Amazing what being involved will do for a person.

Sleeping at work.

ER at 2:15 am Tuesday morning. All day and night in hospital. Was home for 4 minutes to change and forget to brush my teeth and now I'm at work. Yeah. I'm ready for a vacation.

Dena... I have a phone. It works, most of the time. Nifty for ordering Mary Kay. =D

Did that really happen?

Week 1) We got guests.
I received a call at work a couple of weeks ago from a young woman I know through the church. I wasn't able to answer right away, so she left a voice mail that went something like this:
"I don't remember your brothers number and I was wondering if you could help me. My boyfriend and I got into a fight last night. He's in jail and now I'm homeless."
I immediately made some phone calls and later that day, she moved in, along with her just-turned-3-year-old son.
Turns out, they live with her boyfriends mother. When he went to jail, she realized she lost her drinking buddy and decided to kick out this young woman and her 3 year old son. She was a bit bruised and scratched up when she came to us, but she seems to be doing well.
If you wish to help, my amazing husband called up my amazing pastor-brother and you can send any amount (every dollar helps) to Souls Harbor Church c/o Rocio 2802 11th Street, Rockford IL 61109. She is looking for a full time job as her current job leaves her with less than $60.00 a month for housing and utilities, and Rockford Housing and Shelter Care Ministries both have a very large waiting list. We also accept prayers.

Week 2) We got sick.
A summer cold that knocked us on our... bottoms. I actually ended up taking a little bit of time off of work (I went in for 2 hours, then got sent home).

Week 3) Heath got surgery.
That's right. His first ever. Woke up around 2:00 am in excruciating pain. After researching on the good ole internet I found that it was most likely his gallbladder. I urged him to go to the ER, but of course, he didn't. He actually went in to work the next day (neither of us got any sleep after that) and they sent him to the doctor. Who sent him to the clinic, who sent him to the hospital, who sent him to the clinic, who had him admitted to the hospital right away.
Apparently, he had a 15/16" diameter gallstone and a severe gallbladder infection.
Surgery was tentatively scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, and they got him in at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday.
All is well now. He's home and resting. Funny how God works. He needed some quiet time to relax and heal and our houseguests went out of town this weekend.

Dear God,
I'm tired.
Love, Wanda.

Also, TailoredToHire.com - coming soon!

I jumped out of a plane...

I did it. I want to do it again. Tomorrow sound good to anyone?

I went skydiving. I decided to go about 2 months ago, and have talked myself out of it several times since. I'm glad I kept talking myself back into it. It was not at all like I expected. It was cold, uncomfortable, and I had a blast!

Forget everything you think it would be like (except the windy bit). There's no "I'm afraid of heights; it's too high!" there's no "I'm falling!" No ground rush. The biggest issue I faced was remembering that I could, in fact, breathe despite the bitter cold, 122 mph wind in my face. I could have jumped out the plane myself without being pushed. Heath agreed, and he's afraid of heights. I recommend this past-time. I especially recommend Midwest Sky Dive.



You guys were great!

Here I am with my instructor/parachuteman while he makes final adjustments on his equipment; and being led by him to the plane.





Here is the first plane I've ever been on taking off (with Heath and I in it).

and I didn't even get to land in it.


Here are people falling.



Here is Heath falling.


Really... that's Heath!!!


Here is me falling!

Really... that's Me!!!


So... seriously, when can I go again?