all good things must come to an end

First, here is my latest scrapbook page I just finished tonight. (You can click on it for a bigger picture.)
In other news, a sad thing has happened for me this week. I have finished the last books of two different series that I love. The first was my beloved "Mitford" series by Jan Karon. Even as I approached the final chapters, I had a feeling of dread knowing that this was the last book of the series. I just LOVE those books! When we lived in GA, they were such a comfort to me. I continued reading them when we moved to NY, and at that point, I would be literally WAITING for the latest book to be released. How sad that this relationship is over! :-( I'll definitely have to re-read them.

Also, I'm at the very end of the last book of the "Southern Sisters Mysteries" by Anne George. I don't think this was supposed to be the last book of the series, but Ms. George died just before the publication of the eighth, and thus final, book. A heartfelt goodbye to a wonderful author who created familiar and memorable characters.

Both of these series bring humor and southern charm, and I would encourage you to read them for that, if not for a little escapism. That's what I did!

emotions

So many companies have called Brian by now, we've lost count. He's had many, many phone interviews, screenings, and programming tests; he's had 3 face-to-face interviews, and he has another one tomorrow. We never dreamed that we would have this many options! It sure is hard to decide!

Of course, I may be jumping the gun a little because there are no offers on the table yet, but as I've said before, things are looking extremely positive. Brian has done well on all the tests and has had great feedback & communication from all the interviews and screenings. We have a lot of decisions ahead of us!

I've been scrapbooking a lot lately and making cards. Well, I should say I've been THINKING a lot about scrapping - and then I come and sit in my scraproom and work on a page and it takes me forever! LOL! I guess I have gotten a good bit done lately, though. Tonight I was looking at some of my NY friends' pages on Lifetime Moments. When I saw some of the pages, I remembered being right there when they were being made. A lot of them were made at my house in NY. Some of them had some of my borrowed supplies on them. Some of them had pictures of me on them. Most of the pages brought back really fun memories. Tonight I'm OVERWHELMED with emotion, missing my NY friends. I'm working on a page right now of our "bye-bye bash" in NY. I'll post it here when I'm done.

Brad is coming on Sunday and I'm SO EXCITED! I talked to him today and he shared some disturbing news with me: he got laid off yesterday. It must be contagious. Our family has many burdens right now, so please keep us in your prayers!

I went shopping with Denise today. We went to Kohl's and then to the mall, and we had a great time! We had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and it was yummy! I really like hanging out with Denise! She's a lot of fun. We're going to their house tomorrow night for dinner and some down time by the pool and fire pit. I'm making my famous hundred hole cake! Yay! (Right, Sera?!) Oh, and Denise and I discovered today that we are just about exactly the same size! And our feet are only 1/2 size apart too! :-D

I'll leave you with an adorable pic of my babies. This rarely happens, and when I saw it going on yesterday, I had to grab the camera!



AMERICAN IDOL RULES!!!!

interviews, emails, and calls, oh my!

Brian had his first official interview today - a mere 3 working days after he was laid off. He cleans up pretty well, I might add! I don't want to say exactly what/where the interview was, but it lasted for an hour and 45 minutes and went VERY well. He had to take a programming test (again! he's taken about 4 million of them) and he passed it with flying colors, of course! (I can brag - I'm his wife!) Anyway, the guy who interviewed him said he's been looking for a long time for someone for this job and Brian seemed like the perfect candidate. Another interview with the same company will take place later in the week.

Then we went out to lunch to celebrate. Mexican, yum! I brought home some cilantro for the cats and Max went wild and ate it all. Sam barely had a chance to sniff it! =^..^=

While Brian was gone, 2 other people called him for interviews. One is here in Orlando and one is elsewhere. Also, he's gotten a few more emails. He already has two other phone interviews set up for this week. Who knows what will happen! We have no idea where we will be in a few weeks, but we're excited about the possibilities.

Thanks, everyone, for your support, and don't stop praying yet! We really want to make the right decision, and we're just at the beginning right now.

the phone is ringing!!!!

And the emails are coming in!!!! This is crazy - I'm just taking a quick break from my job as "helper" to blog a little and share some joy. We are praising God right now, for what is happening around here and for whatever He has in store for us.

Brian is getting calls and emails from all over the country. I know he has a very specific skill set, but I did not realize just how marketable he is! Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. I'm not saying that he has any actual offers just yet, but things are definitely looking up.

Continue to keep us in your prayers. We want to make the right decision and I want Brian to be happy in his work. More later!

And finally, here is the pic of Julie and Rob that I've been promising:

keeping a positive outlook

Many of you have called or emailed us, and for that we are grateful. True friends always prove themselves in a crisis. We love you all and we appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers, and in some cases, job leads!

I am still pretty bitter towards EA. Brian is much better about not holding grudges than I am. He had a meeting on Friday with a job placement group that EA paid for - they help him perfect his resume and put him in touch with hiring companies. They haven't done much for us yet, though. But Brian and I have been hard at work!

He spent Thursday working on his resume and networking a bit. We both fielded several calls and emails from friends, family, and co-workers. Brian's friends at EA were as stunned as we were. Craig called to say that he knew a few people in Orlando and would pass on Brian's info. Jason & Alicia called to say that they could hardly sleep after they found out! (They weren't alone, believe me! I've been a total insomniac!) They are wonderful friends and we miss them so much! Brian's dad called and gave us the name of a friend who works here in Orlando. Everyone has been so supportive. Thank you!

We are trying to continue with "life as usual." Brian's job now is to FIND a job, and my job is to help. I've been organizing all the calls, emails, websites, etc. My favorite part of this week was when I was on Monster.com and noticed some jobs listed with EA. (I was LIVID, to say the least. EA SUCKS!!!!) I'm sure they're old posts, but still. Here, check it out for yourself.

A lot of you have asked what we are going to do. Well, we're going to try to find a good job here in Orlando. I know, you want us to move to Nashville, Ohio, back to Albany, etc. But we JUST MOVED and we want to find something here if we can. We miss you all, but we do like it here. There are lots of companies who appear to be hiring (judging from monster and careerbuilder.com). A headhunter called Brian less than an hour after he posted his resume on monster, and he wants to pitch Brian to several game companies. B doesn't know if he wants to stay in the game industry or not, because of the crazy work schedules and hours.

So, we have some leads and things are looking up. We are staying positive. Of course, my first thought was, "We never should have moved," and then, "We're going straight back to New York!" And we may still move back. But that is not our first plan.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and if you know anyone looking for an experienced software engineer who is a C++ whiz, give us a call!!!!

PS - Pics of Julie and Rob still to come!

big, bad, shocking news

Here it is. Brian got laid off today. We were both completely shocked, especially since they paid a very large amount of money to move us down here only 6 months ago. We've spent the day discussing it and we have a game plan. But we are still worrying and grieving. Please keep us in your prayers.

a day of fun

Saturday, Brian and I went to Epcot for free! Yay! ESPN paid for everyone on his team at work to go, including their families. (He's working on a game for ESPN.) Anyway, we got there at around 1:00 or so and had a great day. The weather was awesome - a little overcast, but warm. We went straight to Mission: SPACE and rode that first. There was no wait at all! It was an amazing ride. There were so many G's that at one point I could feel my face being pressed back! Awesome!

Then we went and got a fastpass for Soarin' and headed off to the countries. (Test Track was closed!) We had lunch in France and it was delicious. Then we watched a film of the French countryside and it made us want to go there! We wandered around the countries for awhile, watching another film of China and riding a boat in Mexico. It was very enjoyable.

Finally, we headed back to Soarin' and it was fabulous! We got to see the coolest things, and when we flew over the pine trees we could smell the pine, and when we saw the orange groves we could smell the oranges! It was so cool! (I'm so glad we had gotten a fastpass, because there was an 80 minute wait!!)

We ate a quick dinner and set off to watch the fireworks and have dessert with the EA and ESPN people. They had a section of the park roped off and there were tables with drinks (coffee, hot chocolate & tea, and lemonade) and tons of fancy tables with amazing desserts! It was so cool! We had a front row seat for the fireworks and they were spectacular!

BUT - my very favorite part of the day was meeting up with two friends from my old work at Brentwood-Benson Music. Julie and Rob were in town for Children's Pastors' Conference and we met them at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney after the parks closed. We had appetizers and talked until nearly 1:00 am. It was SO WONDERFUL to see them again! I hadn't seen Rob since I quit in January of 2000, and I hadn't seen Julie since my wedding in October of 2000! What a wonderful day it turned out to be.

Yesterday, Brian and I watched the rest of Season 1 of 24. It was SO! GOOD! We love it. We also went to Home Depot last night and got a cabinet for my scrap room. I love it! It's looking good in here!

Today, I went to a new doctor because I needed a Primary Care Physician. (Remember I couldn't find anyone to see me when I was sick?! I don't want that to happen again!) I LOVED him - he was so nice and had a great manner. We talked a bit and he wants me to come back in a month for a physical (oh, joy) and bloodwork (wonderful.) I hate having those done but I want to keep healthy!

I'll post pictures of Epcot and Rob & Julie later.

trapped in the closet

So, on Thursday morning I was getting ready to go visit my grandparents in Ft. Myers (a 3-hour drive). I was in my bathroom putting toiletries in my case when I noticed something on the floor of my closet. It was a lizard!!!! Now, don't get me wrong, I like lizards. They're cute. But I don't want them living inside my house!!!!

To make a long story short, I thought it was dead, called Brian and told him about it, then came back in and noticed it was alive (!), gave a little scream, called Brian back and told him it was indeed alive, and then, per his suggestion, I put a big glass bowl over it. Max was climbing all over the bowl. I shut the closet door and headed for Ft. Myers.

On the way, I saw this sign:
BRIDGE WORK AHEAD
USE EXTREAM CAUTION

I also saw the Braden River. :-D

When Brian got home from work, he got the lizard and took it outside. Max was desperately trying to get it, so he had to be locked up while Brian took the lizard out and gave it some water (he thought it looked dry!) Brian is so funny. He told me the lizard let him pet it. It was gone this morning, so we're hoping it survived and was reunited with its family!

I got home from Ft. Myers around 10:15 tonight. I had a great time with Nan & Pops. They are hilarious! Nan got her hair done today so I went with and got a pedicure. Love it. I now have pinkish-purplish sparkly toes.

Brian and I are off to Epcot tomorrow! I'm hoping we can upgrade our tickets to park hoppers for a small fee, because I really want to go to MGM!!!!

i'm energized

Yesterday was quite a bad day. I woke up with a migraine and couldn't shake it, and I was so mad because it was my book club night! I finally felt better enough to go to the book club and had a GREAT time. But when I came home, I was feeling wide awake, so I did a little scrapping and surfing online. Brian didn't come home until a little after 3:00 am, and we went to bed, but I couldn't sleep.

I watched the clock and tossed and turned until 5, then I finally decided to just get up. That woke Brian up, and we started talking, and we talked until around 6:30. We were both exhausted, so we finally got to sleep - the last time I looked at the clock it was 6:45. Brian got up at 8:30 for work, and that woke me up, and then I was up till 10, and then I took another little nap until 11:00. Good grief! We both feel like we've been hit by Mac trucks today.

BUT - I turned it around. I chatted online with Denise and we did a few 20-minute cleaning challenges, so I got some things done around here, and then I went to the gym! I hadn't been in a really long time, and it felt so good to get some exercise. Then I got smoothies for Brian and I and took his over to him at work.

When I got home I did another few 20-minute clean-ups with Denise, got a roast in the oven, and now I'm sitting down to blog. Denise tagged me with this craziness, so I guess I'll play!


Most recent....

Music downloads: The last music I downloaded was some Christmas music, Pretty Vegas by INXS, and Trees by Marty Casey.

Audiobooks: Too many to list! I just finished "Moment of Truth" by Lisa Scottoline. I'm currently listening to "Light from Heaven" by Jan Karon and "Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella. Waiting in my queue are "Mary, Mary" by James Patterson and "Murder Boogies with Elvis" by Anne George.

Videogames: I'm addicted to Solitaire, especially Spider and Free Cell. My most recent VIDEO games are Katamari, We Love Katamari, and Guitar Hero.

Books: I mostly listen to books, but the most recent books I've read are "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller and "Girls' Night In" by Jennifer Weiner and other various authors.

Movies: Let's see, right after Christmas Brian & I watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Bewitched," and I just saw "Must Love Dogs" at Denise's.

Television: Brian and I are catching up on 24 since we've never watched it. We're total addicts. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm also a reality tv addict! I love American Idol most of all, but also watch The Gauntlet (Real World/Road Rules Challenge) and The Biggest Loser. I'm also into reruns of A Different World, which used to be one of my favorite shows. We also love Lost, The Office (hilarious), and My Name is Earl.

I'll tag Sera, Jason, and Brad!!!!

scrapping with denise

Today I spent the day scrapbooking at Denise's. It was just me, her, and her 2 kids. (Her hubby is camping.) We had a great time! I got two 2-page layouts and two 1-page layouts done! That's pretty amazing for me! And it's always fun to spend time with Denise and her adorable and sweet kids. And her two wild and crazy dogs!

Emily, Denise's 6-year-old daughter, decided it was time to test out their brand new pool. It was just finished like last week, and the water is in and it looks great, but it's pretty cold! Emily stuck her feet in, then stood on the top step, then the next step down, until she was completely immersed! Then she started jumping off the side and swimming all around! Mind you, it's January, and she was fully clothed! (Of course, it was in the 80's today!) It was a sight to see. Denise even broke out her camera!

So here are a few of the pages I did today. Click to see them larger.