October 31st.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I Love Halloween! It is surely one of my most favorite holiday's of the year. I know that's kind of weird to some people, but I have good reasons (least to me they are). It's not becuase of the trick-or-treating; were deffinitely not doing that (too old without kids), but one day when I do have kids I will be more than happy to take them trick-or-treating. I love it for other reasons; some reasons are explainable, but some not so much (you know, feelings you can't put words too).

The few people who know my past/story know that I didn't have a very pleseant childhood. Few good memories, and the ones I do have I try to hold onto. Being that my birthday is so close to Halloween (Nov. 2nd) when I was growing up my grandmother would always put on a special "Halloween" birthday party for me. All my friends would come dressed up and of course we would eat all the candy in the world. Plus trick-or-treating! For some reason Halloween/my birthday is the least stressful holiday I can remember from when I was a kid. It's the only one I can really look back on and feel good about. No pressure, no parents fighting, no promises broken, no disappointments, etc... just a good time (of the few). I don't know why exaclty, I think it is just somthing God reserved for me, something I could hold onto and remember as good and not bad with my past.

Today (Halloween) my co-workers decorated my cubical and threw me and 2 other girls (who have the same b-day as me) a party! It was fun and exciting.

Then later on Kev and I went to Justin and Missy's to hang out and check out there new sweet pad. Missy made Kevin and I a Frankenstein cake! It was so yummy! She makes her cake frosting homemade and it is my FAVORITE (homemade that is). We all hung-out, vegged-out, played games, and watch some Arrested Development. It was a good time.

Here's some pictures of the day:

My decorated cube- Thanks Sporty-Doughtery - I love you!

This is why I love him
(skeez-tron-electric-gopher-face)

"Friendship pen"(gift) from my good from Liz (Dougherty-Sporty)

Frankenstein Cake - by Missy WitheyMe trying hard to look like Mr. FrankensteinMe & my sweet Frankenstein movesSpending quality time with Leonidas the fish - I swear he was looking at me, and heard me talking to him

Babies on the mind, and bored on lunch at work...

!DISCLAIMER - I AM NOT PREGNANT!

So many of our friends have baby's and I love it. I love seeing parents happy with their kids, and for the most part ALL of our friends who have them are still happy people.. which is encouraging to a person like me who has never had kids and often wonders what it's really like.



I have this massive loooooonnnnggg list of baby names that I like or just thought were neat and would possibly use them for my child. I have so many names that I like and would use no matter what someone said. Kevin on the other hand pretty much only has ONE name that he is set on, for a little girl. I like it too- and we will most likely use it if God blesses us one day with a little girl- (sorry not going to disclose the name on here)

Kevin and I would also like to name a little girl Melanie- typically you name a boy after the dad, but we like the idea of naming a girl after me. (not trying to sound selfish here) We both like the name (ha good thing right).. and would love to have a little Melanie.. were also secretly hoping she would look like me, you know the whole dark hair thing. :)

I am also stuck on using my mom's middle name for my first daughter's middle name, because I have my grandmas middle name and I would like to make it a tradition: For the first daughter to inherit the grandmas middle name.. ha not sure if that will really happen, but I like the idea. That being said her middle name is Pandora. And I love it. I think it is very pretty and unique. I know the "story" behind the name, but really I couldn't care a less. My name means the color Black or in some other translations dark, or dark skinned --- hmm.. is that me? nope. (maybe darker skin then some, but not the color black).

If only a non-fat-tripple-white chocolate mocha- with extra whip- were life; then it all would taste so good.

Mad Dad - Kevin

So I think I'm growing up, like I guess we all are, and sometimes I see a part of me that I really don't like.

You know when you were growing up and your dad would get in "business mode", get all quiet and just get the job done. Yeah, Mad Dad. You'd ask him and he would say he's "Fine". Of course he would say it in such a way that implied something like, "I will kill you if you speak another word". Well, I become Mad Dad sometimes. I have been very stressed out lately trying to get a ton of documents together to buy the house. As most of you readers know, the house isn't technically ours. We pay the mortgage, but because of a special arrangement with the Settles, it hasn't actually been ours up to this point. We are trying to secure it and get it in our name, but there are tons of hoops to go through. I've bounced between about 4 different lenders, finally got the best one, and now we are just working through final approval for the loan. This is a bit hard because I don't have any credit history whatsoever. This is another area where youth group steered me wrong. Don't get a credit card, they said. Building credit can be done in looooots of other ways, they said. Get a car loan, they said. This is dumb. Now don't get me wrong, I hate credit cards, but pretty much because they cost lost of money. But if you think about it, if you get a car loan, you're borrowing a bigger amount, so even if your interest rate is less, you'll still probably end up paying more in the long run. I guess it's just the principle behind the credit card and the fact that 99% of people abuse the crap out of them.

Anyway, do you see what I mean? I'm becoming Mad Dad already. I feel bad, because I know it doesn't make me a pleasant person, but I'm just stressed out about stuff I guess. I do have some good news to report, though. I got a promotion and am now a Training Manager at work. Basically I train the phone staff. I don't get no mas dinero, but whatever. It's not so much about getting more money as it is moving up, getting off the phones for the most part and getting to do something I pretty much enjoy. I think I'm really going to like it. I also have to find a place to do practicum. I'm all done with my coursework and just need to do practicum and internship. Basically this means probably working weekends. That'll be kind of hard to do, but I'll make it work. I could also switch over and pick up another small master's degree if I wanted to, instead of having to work on practicum and internship. If my degree only had coursework, I'd be long done by now. But counseling has a lot more to it. If you have an MBA working for some company and you suck, you'll get fired and no big deal. If you are a counselor and you suck, you will mess someone's head up. There's a lot more that goes into it. Anyway, I am actually thinking about doing the MBA. It's free, it might end up coming in handy and... I guess kinda why not? I'm going to be at Liberty for at least another year. I committed to that with this new position. I'd like to have something to fall back on if counseling doesn't work out. Counselors make jack-crap when they first get out in the field (usually between 28-32k per year). I really want to go into private practice so I can make some decent money counseling, but that really happens after are in the field a while, establish a relationship with insurance companies, get experience (it takes a year of full-time work just to get licensed), and build clientele. I should have just gotten into computers. Gez.

I've also started going crazy because I'm aching to play music again. I want to play shows so bad it's not funny. I miss the feeling, I miss playing structured music with a band in general. It's just not the same to sit in your room and pluck at the strings for an hour. Not at all.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. We will be in MI for over a week around Thanksgiving. No one is allowed to leave town, even to visit relatives. We are the only family you need.
We'll see friends
We'll see family
We'll get to eat wedding cake - (our cake place gives you a mini-cake on your first anniversary, but doesn't deliver it or mail it out or anything, so we've had to wait until or next time in Michigan).

Thanksgiving will be here so soon though... time is flying by, both the weeks and now even the days with my new position. Days certainly go by faster than when I was on the phones. I have so much to do now some days I'm wishing for the day to slow down a little bit... almost.

Anyway, that's my update. I want to be a part of this blog too, but I just don't think to post a whole lot. I love it when you guys read about us and comment, makes me feel special and loved. Hope you're all doing well and thanks for reading.

-Kevin

Zero - I'll take it.. I guess.

Sometimes I feel like my life is like a clock - Standing still though the time doesn't stop.

Saturday I had my 4th weigh-in with WW- and nope I didn't lose any weight I stayed right where I was. I was expecting that though, because I had been sick for a week and getting back into working out was tough. I hadn't worked out the week I was sick so when I did work out last week, I got SO sore and It made it extremely hard to work out after that. Though I did one other time.. totaling my workout to only 2-times last week. Plus I was slacking on keeping track of my points and it came back to bite me in the butt.

I am such an ALL or NOTHING type person that once I fail just a little - I have a tendency to give up! I expect perfection or nothing at all. BUT I am not going to do that this time. I am working hard on giving myself grace and trying hard to just use all the set-backs as learning experiences. So, I told myself today is a new day and new day to keep track of all my points and a new day to look forward to the future. :)

In different events - I finally finished the Curtains I have been making for the living-room! They turned out great. Kevin really loves them... more than I imagined he would. He actually likes them more then I do. He says they complete the room even more and make it feel more like a "home". That was the goal. :)

I took pictures of the curtains, but I am very hesitant to post pictures because the pictures make the curtains look like PLASTIC! The curtains have sheen to them so the reflection looks funny- I might post some close ups so you can see the pattern and style. :)

They are very modern/contemporary.

School news - If someone could PLEASE DROP-KICK me in the face that would be great!

I was a very bad student and didn't finish my final paper yesterday but thankfully my teacher has been kind enough to show me mercy and has given me a 2 day extension. I really needed this because if I fail this class then I will need to pay to re-take it (my Continuing Ed won't cover failed classes). I have definitely learned a lesson though. I am bummed because I might have to miss Derby practice tonight because of needing to work on homework.. Annoying, but it is my own fault. :(

Oh well, anyways, that's that.

**20 days till I turn 24 &

**22 days till Kevin turns the BIG 2-5!

Week 3

Today was my 3rd weigh-in with Weight Watchers -

The scale said I lost 1 pound - I was pleasantly surprised by this, because this past week I have been very sick and unable to keep to my normal workout routine- PLUS this past week was ::how do I put it politely:: the week flow came into town. So, despite those two obstacles, I tried hard to keep to my 23 points a-day. It obviously works, because I lost a pound. Had I worked out and felt better it may have been even more. :)

My total weight loss so far is: 6.8 pounds in 3 weeks - It takes effort and planning but it's worth it - like they say at Weight Watchers, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."

Rght now Weight Watchers is doing this campaign "Lose For Good" - For every pound lost Weight Watchers will donate the equivalent of a pound of food, up to one million dollars, to either Action Against Hunger or Share Our Strength. If you are interested you can check out the challenge here at: Lose For Good

I am starting to feel better, though I am still stuffed up and having a hard time breathing. I'm hoping this weekend it will clear up more, because I am itching to work out! I love working out- of course it's tiring, takes effort and work, but once you get into the habit of doing it, you realize how much better you feel about yourself and life in general.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to Derby practice this week, because of how crappy I felt, so I am looking forward to hitting the rink this week and losing more weight!

Although it feels good to do what is right for your body and is of some value, this is much more important to remember and act out:

1 Timothy 4:8

For physical training is of some value,
but godliness has value for all things, holding promise
for both the present life and
the life to come.