Chandler and the Lady Friends.

They were suppose to dress as their favorite Homestuck character but in ugly Christmas sweater fashion.
This is them ready to leave. 

Ever since Chandler was in Kindergarten his best friends have always been girls. It just is that way. Currently Chandler and the Lady Friends are obsessed with Manga or Japanes animation. There is a specific web comic called homestuck that they are hooked on in a big way. This last weekend there was a fan based event in Orange County. I was talked into  volunteered to drive Chandler and the ladies  down there. We left on Friday night spent the night at my sisters house and then from 11 am -6pm they were scheduled to be at downtown Disney for this fan event. Well with everyone being online all the time this event was changed last minute to a park in Anaheim  I had already dropped off the kids and was shopping with my mom when Chandler send me a text saying the location is changed and it is at a park 2 blocks away can we walk there? I consented after he sent me the address and name of the park. I was very nervous though. After my mom and I were done we went over to check out the park. This is what we saw. An extremely large group of kids mostly high school age dressed up in costume acting like they were all best friends  I love that they have something like this to bond over. There are so many terrible things out there a bunch of teenagers getting there geek on over a comic book is heavenly to me.

After the park they walked back to Down Town Disney and were suppose to have a large group dinner at Rain Forest Cafe. Oh did I mention that this park was more like 2 miles away not 2 blocks. I felt really bad about the amount of walking they had to do but I had some very important things that needed to get done while I was there with my Mom. After they got back to Downtown Disney they found out that the dinner had been changed as well. Now it was at the Dennys across from Disneyland. At this point it was already 7pm and we still had to drive back to Santa Barbara so I just picked the kids up and they got In N Out instead. 

2 Things that I am SOOOO Grateful for out of this experience. 

1. When they all got in the car not one of them complained about the walking or missing dinner. They only spoke about how much fun they had and the new friends they had made.

2. With all the anxiety that this day caused for me I am grateful that my concern was never for what Chandler and his friends would do during the day. I was only concerned about what the unknown strangers would do. Our Joking rule for the day was 

Don't get Arrested or Molested!

Parenting a teenager and trying to keep them safe while allowing them to mature and make necessary mistakes is a fine line to juggle. In some ways I am WAY STRICT but in others I try to trust him as much as possible. I have many parents ask why I am willing to go on these trips and do things like Anime Expo. My answer is a result of a wise friend. Kids, good kids are told no so often in life that we should say yes whenever possible. I try really hard to keep that in mind. I do learn a ton about my son and his friends and have a great time as well. Looking forward to many more Manga adventures in my future!

Hope!

Of all the words in the English Language right now HOPE could possibly be the scariest one for me. Eric does in fact have a job interview. I know that it takes a lot more than just one interview. I know that this probably does not mean anything. I know that a couple of thousand dollars will most likely be wasted on flights and hotel rooms in Boston for the Modern Language Association Convention where this and any other interviews will take place. Without an interview we have been living in a state of fear of what to do next but knowing that a change in venue will need to happen. We have been mentally preparing for what to do next and looking into our options. Now with this small tiny mount of hope it puts our life back into stagnation of the waiting. WAITING. Waiting for more interviews, Waiting for Second interviews, Waiting for Fly Backs, Waiting for and official offer. My poor hubby has had all of these and more in the past and the waiting is dreadful. Every time the phone rings we jump in Hope. Every time there is an Unusual email, or snail mail from a school we get Hope. Ultimately we always get let down. The soul can only take so much of this. Now we have this dreaded Hope that maybe this could be it. How much more is it going to hurt in the long run if this is not the Magic Place we have been waiting for. I know my last post was on this topic but since I am now getting multiple phone calls and emails a day asking if he has any interviews yet (I know this is all done in love) I felt that another post was justified. Here are things you should never say to someone like me.

*Have faith and it will all work out. While I believe this what most people don't grasp is that most of the time it does not work out the way we hoped, planned, dreamed, expected.
*As long as you work hard you will always do well and succeed. Really People Really. That is not how the world always works. Example. Look at Paris Hilton, and the Kardashians. Why do I or any of you even know who they are. They did not get there money from hard work.
*Don't let it get you down. What else am I suppose to do. I am human and grief is an essential part of recovering from tragedy. Yes at this point in my life I equate my husbands job search with tragedy.
*God will bless you if you believe. I have been told this from people of all faiths. I love god and truly believe in him. I do not believe he loves me more than the many jobless families all over the world or the children being sold into prostitution, or to produce our chocolate. Bad things happen. That is the plan God set out for us. Without pain we can't truly know joy. So many of the bad things in this world are done by the evils of man. Not by God. He gave us our free agency and unfortunately that agency often affects others in a negative way. If we as a people all treated others with respect, paid our employees fair wages, and were just generally honest most of the worlds problems would vanish.

I will try to do a more positive post soon. Maybe one involving our Elf on a Shelf Cheeky!

That time of year again.

For most people this time of year is full of fun, excitement  gratitude, giving, and a general good spirit. Not for us however. This time of year is the Job Search for English folks trying to find work of any kind. It is full of anxiety, dread, depression, and UNKOWN. It is my Hubby's 5th year of doing this and we are done emotionally. So done in fact we are not even really talking about it anymore. He fills out applications and occasionally tells me about one that was particularly difficult or obscure for some reason but other than that I am in the dark. I like it that way. This way I don't start hoping and dreaming about possibilities for the future. We have no idea where our future will be and what we will do and how we will support our family. All I know is that when things seem impossible a way is provided and we work it out. This does not mean that we have everything we want this means that the bare necessity's are provided for. Literally I am excited just to be able to buy groceries and pay all the bills in the same month. Barring Dental and car issues or things like like we are scrapping by which I am immensely grateful for. For those added dilemmas family and friends have looked out for us when needed. I apologize if this seems negative. That is not my intent. This is just how life is for us now. It is very different then what I pictured almost 16 years ago when we got married or even 5 years ago when we started the job search. My expectations are drastically different. I now don't expect to ever own a  home. That is ok. We are so blessed compared to many. Why things keep working out for us and not so many is beyond me. I have met so many hard working people over the last few years that are worse off than we are. My children are healthy and have clothes that fit, We have a place to live, and car to drive and most of the time can afford the gas to drive it. A particularly hard aspect of the job market for me is everyone tries to spare Eric so instead of asking him they ask me how the job search is going. Here is my answer. Who Knows. Until a job offer has been made requests, interview, fly outs, they all mean nothing. Trust me when when I tell you that if a job offer has been made you will all hear about it rather quickly. Please stop asking. It makes us feel like we need to console the rest of the world as we deal with the impossible unknown ahead of us. Since interviews take place the week after Christmas we try to stay positive and remember why we are celebrating but that underlying fear remains. Pray for us that a job will be there next year. Thank you for reading my rant. I really do hope you all have a great Christmas and Holiday Season and can find the joy in it. Do something kind for someone else. You may not know how much they really need it. We have had so many small kindnesses done for us that meant the world and provided little things that made a huge difference.

An Update

Since my last post many things have changed. We moved, Chandler started High School, Dylan started 7th grade Elliot started 2nd grade. I was without a computer for a full month so I am very behind on my updates.  I have very much enjoyed our new apartment. We settled in here rather quickly. I was very surprised at how fast things went together. I have had a bit of fun since moving in and much of it had to do with my jars. With my Cricut and some contact paper I made cute labels. I customized one of my shelvs to hold the jars better. At the thrift store I found a spinney rack to hold more jars that I love and the $3 price tag made me happy as well which was a good thing since I got in a car accident in the parking lot of that thrift store. I also found a wine holder for free at the swap shop to hold even more jars. These few shelves holding my jars has freed up a lot of cabinet space and made the jars much more functional.

Free rack from Swap Shop

$3 shelf from thrift store.

Shelve that I customized by adding some additional shelves to it and covering with contact paper.

Plenty of storage space above my cub bards for my food storage jars.

A close up of my personalized lids.

I have a lot of posts to do so keep a look out.

My Love Affair.

So it is fathers day and I just spent 3 hours with....... wait for it...... Canning Jars. What you might ask, did I read that correctly? Yes I said Canning jars. They are good for so many reasons.  The funny thing is I have never canned in the traditional sense. I have a long term goal of not using plastic for food (except the plastic lids) and reducing waste by not using baggies and Tupperware that don't last very long.
Now I am going to give you a canning jar tutorial.

1. Use them instead of Tupperware. They are cheaper, last longer, and are nicer to the earth. They won't leach plastic into your food and they can be put into the microwave or oven. I often freeze leftovers and when I am ready to use them I take them out in the morning and an hour or so before dinner I put the whole jar in the oven on warm and I have a hot meal.

Pint, Quart, 1/2 gallon.

2. They are great for storage. I store all my dry goods in them. They keep food fresh longer and there are sized for all of your needs.

3. They make great drinking glasses.

4. They are great for smoothies and large drinks. Drill a whole in a plastic lid and you have a great glass.
5. You can get plastic lids that are all once piece. These are nice for the things you use everyday. It is just easier to open instead of the ring and lid that are separate. They don't seal quite as well, so for long term storage I recommend the metal lids.  You can write in sharpie on any of the lids and then scrub it off later or print cute labels if they are out in the open.
6. There are 2 types of jars. Wide Mouth and Traditional. All jars come with the wide mouth version now. The 1/2 gallon jars only come wide mouth now. If you are starting from scratch I suggest only using wide mouth in all of your jars. They are easier to clean and you will only need to have one size lid for all of your jars.

Wide Mouth, Regular Mouth

7. I store my Homeade Deoderant, Toothpaste, and Lotion in them. 

8. They make great craft/toy organizers. Think Buttons/Legos

Get yourself a funnel. It fits into the mouth of any size canning jar and keeps things from spilling. This is one of the most used items in my home. I use it when pouring smoothies in the morning, when storing leftovers, when pouring dry goods that I buy in bulk. For the $2 that it costs it is very worth it. 

OK Now you are thinking they are glass and will break easily. Actually they are very sturdy. The are more likely to break when empty than when full. 

I have a dream of a Wine Rack type unit that will store all of my jars lids facing out. This will store a lot of jars in a small vertical space and make them even easier to use. I will of course have cute labels to put on the lids. 

If you want jars but don't have spare change, send out an email to your church, school, or any other organization you belong to. I did this and got 150 jar out of it in all sizes. 

If you are like my friend Katie and everything needs to be white go with the plastic lids. If you are like my friend Jeannie and don't want any design on your jars special order them online. If not and plain jars are right for you they sell them just about everywhere, you probably have just never noticed them before. Here in Goleta the best price and selection is at OSH. 

Life

So an update on life. Eric will be staying at UCSB again for one more year. We are packing up and putting everything in storage and will be out of our house by July 6th. Eric has a place to stay in town so he can keep working. The kids and I will be visiting family for most of July. We are on a wait list for an apartment that we can afford. If we don't get in by August we will then look for another place to live. This sounds crazy but I am looking forward to the adventure. We have a lot of things packed and in storage already and this weekend we will be moving much of our furniture. This is the last weekend in the house that Eric and I will both be home. He has a conference next weekend and I am taking Chandler to Anime Expo the weekend after that. There has been much that has happened lately. Dylan turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon. Family members have had brain surgeries, and baby's. If you want to read the updates on my nieces born at 26 weeks
As crazy as it is I feel strangely calm. Giving myself 4 full weeks to load into storage has allowed me the freedom to do a little every day. I am sure I will be pulling my hair out the last week. If you have any other questions let me know. Off to pack some more!
P.S. does trash and the amount of stuff in a room multiply every time you fill a box!

Sisters Weekend 2012

Once a year for the past 6 years my Sisters, Mom and Niece get together for a Sisters Weekend. We all take a turn hosting. We have been to Texas, Idaho, Utah twice and California twice. Every year it seems to get longer than the one before. This year my mom and I went for a full week so we could see other friends without it interfering with our sister time. We had so much fun. We stayed up after 2am every night. Slept in, ate ice cream, talked, gossiped, laughed, told dirty jokes and plain had a great time. I am not ready to be back into the swing and stresses of normal life but I know that I have this to look forward to again next year.