"The Dash" 2008 - 2009

2009 is coming and 2008 is behind us. I usually take this time to reflect/think about the year that has passed and make new goals for the year to come... that's what everyone does, right?

So what happened in the dash... Well the biggest thing that changed this last year was that in February Doug and I were able to move into our first home. We are definitely enjoying the benefits of home ownership. Considering that we have moved 7-8 times in the almost 4 years that we have been married, it's just nice to stay in one place for a while. We're hoping to benefit financially as well with an actual tax return this year instead of owing the government money like last year. I'm hoping for some fun vacation to Hawaii with the tax return, but it will probably go into savings like everything else. This summer I decided to get a job to put some extra in the savings account for the future and also to finance my Nikon D40 purchase. I had an "interesting" stint working as a nanny for a family with 4 kids with the oldest daughter going through chemotherapy. Looong story... Everything else this year continues to be much the same. I still work as a fourth grade teacher and Doug continues to work at his tech job. We are blessed to both have such secure jobs. In church, I was called as the Activity Days leader and Doug has been working as a Webelos leader. I enjoy my calling and even though Doug sometimes says otherwise, I think he really enjoys working with the boys. Also this year, we adopted an abandoned kitten and named him Darwin. He's definitely a survivor and a snuggler. He gets a long well with Lucky, our other cat. For now, these are my babies.

Goals for 2009: The usual... eat healthier, exercise more, and actually read/study the Relief Society and Sunday School lessons in advance. In addition to these goals which I make every year and will likely fail by January 2nd, I have made a few others. I would like to start leaving work earlier. I am admittedly a little bit of a workaholic. I LOVE my job, but I spend too much time there. I want to try to be OUT of the school by 4:00pm instead 5 or 6 (or 7). I'm doing this for Doug. I love him too much to let him continue being a neglected husband. The second goal ties in very closely to the previous one. I am going to try to get a hobby and stick with it. I've gotten into the bad habit of coming home and working. As a teacher, working at home can't really be avoided with all of the grading and planning that is involved outside of the actual teaching, but I'm going to try to reduce this... somehow. So I'm thinking, well I bought this $500 camera this summer, I probably should learn how to use it better. So this will be my hobby, photography. The last goal involves convincing Doug to start a family BEFORE we have a kajillion dollars saved up. This isn't so much of a goal, as it is a desire. Here's hoping!

Who knows what new things will be introduced into our lives this year? As an optimist I always hope for the best. I love surprises!

The Christmas that was Merry

Both Doug and I had an excellent Christmas. I feel very blessed that we have my family so close and that we were able to share Christmas with them this year. We received many wonderful presents, but the one thing that I am most excited about is the possibility of having internet access to our house! You're probably thinking, "What? Two computer nerds like Doug and Jenny don't have internet!" Yes, it is true. Our only internet access is at our jobs and at my parents' house. We are the two most frugal computer nerds you've ever known! Living in a small town, there is not much competition for internet access resulting in ridiculous rates for the area. Not having internet access has saved us about $500 in the almost year that we've lived in our house. Looking at how much we didn't spend is making me want to try to hold off a little longer...

What Doug gave Jenny:
Kitchen Aid Knife Set
Digital Photo Frame
Black & Decker Hand Vac
Custom-made Wedding Album

What Jenny gave Doug:
Antec Computer Case
1.5TB Seagate Hard Drive
Tool Carrier
Soldering Iron

Melding of Christmas Traditions

Doug and I are in the process of melding together our families' different Christmas traditions. Doug's family being the big contributor in this effort. My family always enjoys the holidays and we have a blast, but we don't necessarily have too many consistent traditions. We do fun things, but we basically "wing it" every year. Some of my family's traditions are: Mexican food for dinner on Christmas day and setting up the tree the last possible day (usually the Monday before Christmas). Some of Doug's family traditions are: decorating sugar cookies, creating and decorating gingerbread houses/mangers with graham crackers, Meat, cheese, and crackers by candlelight on Christmas Eve for dinner. We try to combine the two as much as humanly possible. Just recently, my family tried one of Doug's family's traditions by decorating graham cracker mangers/houses. I made a fun collage in Picasa 3 to show the results! :)

Christmastime Loot

Being a teacher definitely has its ups and its downs. Yesterday reminded me of one of those "ups." The last day before Christmas break, or as we call it in the public education system "Winter Break," I was inundated with gift bags from students coming in the door. Many of the students in the community that I teach come from affluent families. I was gifted all of the regulars: candles, body washes, chocolates, another one of those Willow Tree Angel of Learning statuettes (I'm building a village of them!), and GIFT CARDS! Doug and I never have to pay to go out to eat, gift cards from students usually last the whole year with how often we actually eat out. This year, I actually got some pretty thoughtful gifts. One of my students got me a cute stocking for my cats. Another one got me a nice plaque thing to help decorate my house. Working in the DC Area, I actually have quite a few students that their dads' work for the Secret Service. We now have a nice metal ornament in our tree that says, "Seasons Greetings from the Secret Service." It probably has a mini camera and a microphone inside...


If you're trying to figure out what to get for a special teacher in your life or your child's life, here is a little advice... They already have plenty of socks, soaps, candles, and mugs. It's not that I'm ungrateful for the things that I received because I loved and appreciated every little thing including the drawing that was titled, "Marry Chrismas." What teachers really need YEAR ROUND is support and the occasional thank you. (A gift card is always nice though!)

Christmas break has officially started. I think I will spend my time reading, planning for school, playing with my camera, and maybe the occasional blogging. Yay! Christmastime is here!

My Family's Front Door

Doug's out of town visiting his family in Utah, so I'm at my family's house. I do not like being home alone when Doug's gone, so I usually make the 30 minute trip up to my folks' house in West Virginia on the weekends. I have yet to get a key to the house (the house I grew up in, the one I spent the first 18 or so years of my life in, yeah that one), so every time I come over if no one answers (which is pretty frequently if you know my family) I need to break into the house. Recently, my youngest brother Johnny (another whole story in itself) kicked in one of the wooden pieces in the front door, so if I lay down on the front porch and reach up through the hole, I can unlock the door. This is a very dangerous endeavor, navigating through all of the splintery wood and nails, but my arm is just long enough! The neighbors already think that my family is ...uh different, so what can it hurt? My dad is getting a new fiberglass door soon... I'm not sure how I'll get in the house then.

Welcome to Our Blog!

I decided to start a blog. It seems like the popular thing to do. So, here it is. Welcome to our blog! Doug is a much more interesting writer than myself. Maybe, I can get him to post on here as well.