Life is awesome!

So, we moved to Broken Arrow. We are finally getting settled into a little bit of a routine.

I got a job at an optometry office of a doc who went to school with the doc I worked for in Chickasha. I'm getting a refresher on glasses. I mainly help people choose frames, then order their lenses and file the insurance on them. I'm checking the glasses when they come in and calling people to let them know they've arrived.

It feels SO GOOD to get out of the house some and interact with people. A job has given me purpose that I haven't felt in a long time! After training, I won't be working a whole lot, but I'm still excited about it. I'm also cleaning a few houses. I'm trading cleaning one of John Paul's friend's for his mowing our yard. I'm not sure who's getting the better end of this deal, but I don't have to mow so that's awesome! I do have to clean a bachelor's bathroom though. O well, it's a challenge, and it's been a long time since I've felt very challenged!

Where I've been is where I'm going?

Long time no post I know.

The past year has kind of been.... well it's been.

I spent a lot of time at home, alone.

I helped with John Paul's aging grandparents for a time, then grandpa's time was over. I treasure that time I spent with him. I feel like I knew his grandpa more than I knew my own. I wasn't scared of him. He told me stories of the way things were. He told me that he cared about me. I never had that from a grandpa before.

I spent time cleaning for a friend. It was nice to have a "job."

John Paul appreciates the house being clean, bills being paid, and cupboards and fridge being full.

I find joy in taking care of the house. Being a housewife is an important role. I had a job for a few weeks, and it was hard to spend time with John Paul because the time we would have spent together I had to do all the things I would have done during the day.

John Paul transferred with work, so we are living in Broken Arrow, just outside Tulsa. I'm excited for the change, but he started back to work this week, and I'm feeling blue.

Do I find a "real" job to make money? Do I stay at home and be lonely and, not going to deny it, bored? Do I volunteer and be socially and mentally stimulated but make no money?

God has a plan for my life. He has a reason for my being alive. I'm seeking His face, but I have no idea. I want it to be clear and man, how many more days do I have to sit in this new house crying waiting to hear from Him?

I'm so blessed that I don't have to have a job today. There aren't a stack of bills waiting to be paid. I'm blessed that John Paul can cover our responsibilities. I feel a little bad for being so upset about not knowing what I "should" do with with my life.

Snow Day!!

Houston is forcast to get .25 inches of snow. There's a drift in front of the house that's got to be close to 2 feet deep now. O the joys of home! John Paul and I've been home all day and loved every minute!

We moved!

So, December was a very exciting month, and it feels like life might be back to a normal speed.

John Paul started a new position in OKC as a field engineer. So he's been doing training and I think he's enjoying it. It's not being trapped in a cubicle!

I got to pack the house while he went to OK to start working. With help from our wonderful Houston friends helped in the packing up.

I did a reconnaissance mission to find a place to live in OKC, and then JP, our dads, and I went and got the house packed up. We moved stuff in the weekend before Christmas. I had a few days to unpack, then we went home for awhile for Christmas. John Paul figured out that 4 vacation days gave him almost 2 weeks off with the days they were given off to make up for the holiday being on the weekend. It was so nice to spend time at home!

We came back and worked really hard unpacking and cleaning, and had "The Group" over for New Years. We really missed them while we were gone.

I've been looking for a job and keeping things sparkly around here, hoping to find something interesting soon!

I'm planning on posting pictures of the house soon, but I don't know where the time went today. I've got a few things to do before JP gets home from work!

packing up, headed out

So, I haven't posted in a long time. It's been a pretty stressful time around here. Long complicated story mad uber short: John Paul got transferred to a job in OKC. He found out a week before he was supposed to be there, so he packed for a week, and I'm packing this week.

This is a blessing we've been praying for for a while. We thought we were city people, but we aren't there's no where you can go to get away from people, without driving for hours, and we miss friends at home. Though, we have made some friends here!

So, I guess my 10 minute break from boxes has ended (I was reading stuff first) So packing here I come.

Knitting fun!

Here's what I've been doing lately. I'd been working on knitting the quilt since about March, and told myself I needed to get it finished before Christmas knitting. I'm making the sock monkey for my niece. This is one outfit, and I've started a dress. I have the patterns for a set of pants, another shirt and dress, and 2 cardigans. So, we will see how much wardrobe there is actually finished by December! I'm also knitting some koozies for friends, and a set of cool desk accessories that will make her cube feel like a tropical isle! If I have time, I also got some knittable market bags, but those are on the bottom of the list since I'm not sure who I'd give them to.

Pistol Pete

I miss him. I've never been one for school spirit, but man college was awesome. I miss the oceans of orange and seeing this scruffy guy on everyone's tee shirt.

I've actually been following football! I never went to a game while at school, because I thought it was just a buncha guys wearing big shoulder pads and tight pants. Now I realize what I missed out on. To be a part of a group cheering for the same end. I did go to a basketball game though.

Sorry Jen, I know you'd probably rather see that silly schooner, but I've been jonesing for some Pistol Pete. So I had to share his cute mug!

This Month

So, I've made 2 cakes lately. One for a going away party for a co-worker and the other (which I didn't post a picture of) for a bachelorette party. That cake turned out awesome, but I didn't think it was quite appropriate to post lol. I've been to 2 bachelorette parties, and one wedding for those pretty ladies. I'm not so good at taking pictures, so only one bachelorette is pictured, and I didn't think of the camera at the wedding. So, of our Houston friends, 2 sets got married on consecutive weekends. We only went to one wedding as the other was in Colorado. Love is so wonderful isn't it?

Love makes us do things like the front hair poof, which I'm trying to hide in the picture with John Paul. He saw some girl with the hairdo and asked me to try it. I did, and felt ridiculous. O well, the picture was taken at an Astros Baseball game. We had really awesome seats just behind home plate right below the press boxes. A foul ball hit on the stairs 2 rows below us and ricocheted down below. It was fun, but that was the most notable adventure of the evening.

The pictures below are from the Forbidden Garden, which is a replica of the tomb where the terra cotta warriors were discovered, and a replica of the forbidden city. It was an interesting day. Lots of Chinese history done up really small :)

Other noteworthy things, well highlights really on the trip to the wedding we ate at Braum's twice and I'm working on loosing weight. Over the last 3 weeks I've lost 8 pounds. I weighed the most I've ever weighed and decided I wanted my close to actually fit me again. So here's to keep trying!

Visit home

So, last week I had the opportunity to have several days off, and I took it! I went home to visit. John Paul didn't have the time off, so he hung out here. He told me it was nice to be alone, but he was glad when I came back. He's pretty sweet when he wants to be.

The trip home was great (no I didn't take pictures, I don't know why). I got to eat at Braum's. No one makes milkshakes, french fries, or burgers like Braum's!! I visited lots of lovely family and friends. I got to listen to good radio, drive on 2 lane highways, randomly bump into people I knew, have a conversation while blocking both lanes of a dirt road, and be encouraged by lots of people that love me!

It was so good to meet up with everyone I'd been missing so long. It's funny, I think talking about being happy with what's going on in the here and now came up with everybody. Going home was nice, and I didn't want to come back to Houston, but I feel so much better about being here in Houston. I may not run into someone who knows my name while I'm out and about, or get hugs from anyone but John Paul, but I can live here and be ok. Which is such a blessing, because for such a long time I thought I would scream if we couldn't move somewhere nicer, smaller, closer to people we know and 100 other things that Houston isn't. We have lovely friends here, which I'm so thankful for. That helps most of all with being ok.

I had such awesome ideas of how I was going to convey the awesome mental refreshing that I had visiting OK, but somehow it was so much more awesome in my head on the long drive home. O well.

clearing out the camera

I don't know why I always take a buncha pictures, and rarely put them on the computer. But, I emptied the camera out and am sharing a few!

We've went to several pool parties at a friend's house, so I got a poolside shot of JP.

We went down to the Battleship Texas with my parents, so there's a few shots of that. John Paul was trying to decide how to get that big shell home with no one noticing... don't worry, it's still there ;)

John Paul's employer has a group for new people to the company called Endeavor. They get together for social networking and this year celebrated the 3rd birthday of the group, so that meant a party! We had a blast at Dave and Busters!! I thought John Paul looked like he was having fun blowing that stupid favor in my face!

Gentle nudge

So, I was told I haven't been blogging. Which I realized was true when I looked and my last post was about my kidney stone. I've sat down many times to put my thoughts out there, but they always seem too radical, too whiney, too personal too boring or any other number of things, not to mention would people even care? Since I've gotten a couple of comments, I'll see what I can do about catching you up. (This might be long, but I'm going with you asked for it? lol)

So, since June, I've recovered from my stone completely, but have had a few apts with the urologist. I'm going to say I got really lucky with finding a great doc. He listens, and he doesn't want me to have any more stones! They did a few tests, and I got the results last week. I'm watching what I eat to prevent stones. We will do another test in a few months to see if changing my diet is enough, or if I need medicines to prevent stones. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all the things I can't eat. I'm supposed to cut back on sodium, calcium, and fat, Yet I'm supposed to not eat a lot of veggies because they contain a lot of Oxalate, which is a component of my stones. I'm drinking at least 3 liters of water, and working in fresh lemonade.

We have had quite a few visitors. John Paul's parents came down around Father's day. I was pretty sick at the time, but it was nice to see them. It was nice to spend a little time with my father-in-law before he got deployed to Afghanistan. Then John Paul's little brother came by with a few friends. They had went to Mississippi to pick up a new car, and Houston is way on the way back to OK so they stopped by :). They were only here a little over 24 hours, but it was nice to have people in the house. My parents came down as well. We did a Texas history weekend, visiting 2 state parks that were focused on the founding of Texas. It was great to have people in the house, even though the house seems a lot more hollow after people leave, and there's a little bit of homesickness that flares up when they leave too.

I helped plan a trip to AZ, which I posted pictures of here on Facebook. I've sat down, and wrote several posts about this trip, but didn't post. So, here I'm just going to say that I support AZ's new immigration law because if our federal govt doesn't enforce laws which makes citizens unsafe, I think a state has a right to protect it's citizens. The trip was a hoot, and I really enjoyed meeting lots of other conservatives and seeing AZ from top to bottom! A group from AZ posted a movie they made about our trip here. The video is like 9 minutes long, so no pressure to watch.

The other exciting thing going on is FRIENDS! It's been really cruddy moving here not really knowing anyone. But one of John Paul's co-workers has had people over to his house several of times over the past year (yea, we've been here a year, crazy) And we've recently been really hanging out with several of his co-workers. There's 2 couples getting married in Sept, so we are kind of in the same stage of life, and it's so great to have some people to spend time with. We did a bowling league for 6 weeks. I stank mostly, but got better. I increased my avg, and bowled over 100 once! One co-worker hosted my birthday party, and that was the first time that I really felt like we were finally getting friends. I've went wedding dress shopping, and we are planning a bachelorette party too!

I've been making cakes for, well years, but I've been making several lately. I've got a couple of orders too. I'm really excited about it! Who knows where it will lead!

So, Houston isn't as bad as it was a few months ago. We still haven't found a church home, we're just going to church. It's pretty hard to not have a church family, but God has a plan for that.
I'm still working at Staples as a cashier, but I've been looking for something else, but there's just not a lot. We are praying for God's leading in that area, and are waiting to hear from Him on the issue.

My Kidneys

So, last week I had surgery to have my big honkin stone broken up. That was Tuesday. I asked, and they said I could go back to work after the anesthesia fully wore off, which was 24 hours. So, next day I was still in just as much pain as before, got meds, took them and was ok. I just laid around the house. I didn't have to take the meds unless I was being pretty active, getting out or something.

So, I went back to work today. I almost died. I had been taking the pain meds right when the pain started to escalate, but I couldn't at work since I'd have to drive home. Needless to say, I'm very interested in what the doctor will have to say at the 1 week follow-up. Last year when I had the same procedure I didn't hurt this long or this bad. *deep breaths* one day at time I guess.

Life's like that

So, John Paul and I had been having big adventures and enjoying life here a little. I've lost several pounds, and as a treat we went to Galveston to Moody Gardens. There's 3 big pyramids there, an aquarium, planetarium, and a rain forest! I'd been to the aquarium when my friend Ellen was down, so we did the Rain Forest tour. It was so awesome. All the pretty plants and there were even a few animals. John Paul was so patient as I rattled off all the names, and stood as I got in close and examined all the plants. I was intrigued with the way they used annuals just shoved into cracks of rocks in moss. It was really neat. We explored the island a little bit, and headed home.

We had a big Memorial Day weekend. Saturday morning we took a drive out of town to explore a little town we had driven through on the visits home. Calvert, TX. we explored all sorts of shops in their downtown. One guy had made a movie theater into a shop. It was really neat to see the stage, and how he filled it to the brim with all sorts of antiques. We made the trip home an adventure too. We took the business loops instead of the highway to see the downtowns of Bryan, College Station, and Navasota. Found some neat gun shops, and then a neat state park. We ended up at a museum about the founding of Texas as a country. That state park was so neat we ended up making the over an hour drive again on Monday to explore the rest of it. Toured a neato farm with reinactors. we had a nice chat with a lady about her spinning wheel. I think it would be neat to spin my own yarn.

That weekend we also bought blackberries on the side of the road and made homemade ice cream with them. Awesome! I gave John Paul my first at home haircut. It's not perfect, but considering I've never even really seen his hair being cut before, it's pretty darn good. Next time I'll do better around his ears.

The latest development was last Thursday I was working away, and had a pain in my side. I often get a little pain, and I freak out about it being a kidney stone. Most of the time I get busy and forget about it, but as the day wore on the pain got worse. I left early, and was able to drive my truck to John Paul's job, and he drove me on to the ER. Indeed, it was a kidney stone. 6mm. That may not sound very big, but trust me, it is. That's the probably too big to pass size, so Friday I went to see a urologist and everyone agreed I should have the booger broken up. The first day they were doing surgeries is tomorrow, so I'll be at the hospital bright and early.

New hair

So, this is my hair before and after. I've been wanting to do something different for AGES! But, I just haven't went and did anything. I was driving by the hair place today, and just pulled in. I knew I wanted real short, John Paul didn't want it cut at all, so this is what I ended up with. It's the same hair cut I've had many times in the past, but this time instead of feeling cool and chic, I feel like I look a lot older. O well.

I've been feeling really really blue lately, lots of reasons I'm trying not to dwell on. But, I think I was thinking a big change might make things better, but they just made things worse. John Paul's trying to be nice about it, but he's sad I got it cut. I'm trying to be happy about it but it just doesn't feel like I wanted. I wanted the fun crazy Dana back. I used to be so cool, and now I'm just blah. I used to have fun style, now I'm wearing blah clothes. I used to have such a flair for life, and lately I feel like I'm just checking off day by day. I'm just present, not changing. Why cry today, because I can't stop myself.

Swine Flu

So, when we left to go home John Paul was sick enough I had to drive. This is a big deal, in our relationship he's the driver I'm the navigator, and it's just better that way. We are both gifted at those jobs, and it tends to be not as pleasant if we try to switch.

He coughed the whole time we were home, and couldn't really breath to sleep, so he didn't much. On the trip home(which he felt better enough to drive )I realized my throat hurt, and it turned out his mom got sick too. His dad was sick for like a day but was soon better.

After a week of being home together, not talking because it would make us cough, his dad calls and says we have the swine flu. A lot of people in Chickasha are coming to his office with it. It's been a bummer to cough a lot, but we haven't really had much of a fever. We've went on walks and enjoyed time together. It's really the best sick ever, minus we can't talk or we will cough.

So, we are a part of the pandemic oh no!

Visit home

Last week John Paul and I took a trip home to see a friend get married. It was great to see our high school friends again, and had a fun time at her reception.

I also had fun shooting with John Paul and a friend of his. I did awesome at shooting whatever we could find, which ended up being beer cans and plaster from the falling down house on the property. Well, let me tell you, that plaster had no chance lol!

I spent time shopping with mom. We had a lot of fun looking at crazy expensive jewelery and buying the wedding gift at William Sonoma.

I also got to visit with some friends from church who are pretty much like family. I went over and visited their twins who will be turning 4 soon, and their little sister just turned 2. Super cute sweet family. Mr. Clift, who taught math a the high school, in case you had his class... Any way, that was fun.

We also went to MEERS and had great burgers and BBQ.

John Paul was sick the whole time, and on the way home I started feeling crappy too. I've not went to work this week, because I'm afraid it's contagious, and I can barely talk from the coughing. His parents got it too. We all love him, but right now are bummed he got us sick!!

Knitted Handbags

So, Facebook has targeted advertisements as you know. Sometimes they think they target me, and they don't. Any way, I was going along and the were advertising KNITTED FRUIT AND VEGGIE HANDBAGS!! How could I say no to this??? So, I've made the kiwi, pea pod, and lettuce so far. Working on the beet currently. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. (yes, that's how awful Houston is)

Beach!

So, I know I haven't posted in a long time. I'm sick at home so I though I'd catch you up, if you cared.

The end of March, a dear friend from college came down to visit on her spring break. We headed down to Galveston, hoping to miss the rain, but the front followed us down the highway. She didn't come all the way from New York to not go to the beach. So we splashed around collecting shells in the rain. We also ate great food, went to a huge aquarium and had a little sun on the beach the next morning. She's great, and I really miss her! Oh, and she got pooped on by a sea gull. Really, the picture in the hat was just hilarious because she had really gotten pooped on already! Also, she ate 2 lbs of crawfish.

Rodeo!

So the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show is a BIG deal around here. We are talking a whole month of rodeo every night, huge livestock show, big name concerts and a big midway which means fair food!!

I went to see the first show of the last tour of Brooks and Dunn. A great friend from high school and her mom took me. We had a blast. We didn't get there in time to see much of the rodeo. We got stopped in the midway for dinner. Goo, did we do dinner.

First to be clear 3 people shared all of this, a lot of these things I just had a few bites! We had these items, all battered and fried: moon pie, oreos, snickers, nutter butters, avacado (with great herbs in the crust) chicken fried bacon (It was so bad for us, but tasted great) and topped it off with chili cheese fries and a corn dog. I will say the moon pie and avacado were my faves!

We got seated right as the mutton busting was done, an event where parents enter their 3-8 year old children up to cling on the back of a sheep. It's like bull riding, except there is no hardware to upset the sheep. It was pretty cute.

The concert was great. They sang a song called Only In America. They had soldiers who marched out and stood at attention for the song. almost all the crowd got to their feet and cheered for those brave guys. There was a big blow out of streamers, and it was great to see the guys walk out of the arena, dragging long streamers behind them. What a great country!

what's up?

So, not a lot has been going on here lately. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Battle Ship Texas. That was interesting, but I forgot my camera, so there are no fun pictures of John Paul manning the welded up guns on deck. We've been taking walks around the neighborhood because it's been so nice lately.

I have a friend from college visiting on her spring break next week. I'm really excited about that. We are going to go down to Galveston and check out the beach.

I've been eating a few sweets, but I've not been getting boxes of them and hiding them from John Paul, so Lent has been a very good thing for me. I've lost 2 lbs. I'm kinda sad about that. I figured cutting all those crazy little debbies from my diet would really help me loose weight.

Taking each day one at a time.