2010

It's been sometime since I have made the time to write down a few thoughts. I love reading my friends blogs and wish I had more time to do the same, but I find that their writings are more interesting and flow better than mine. I have been considering doing a video blog and seeing how that would turn out, but I haven't gotten around to that yet either. I hope to be a little more diligent about it in the future.

If you haven't heard already, Amanda and I bought our first house on October 31st this year. We were so excited to get in here. I was a little scared of having so much debt hanging over our heads, but the longer I am here the more I forget that I owe $130k. It feels like we are still renting... well except for the fact that I can't call my landlord every time we have a problem. I am quickly turning into a plumbing and heating expert. I'll post a few pictures later in the blog.

I think I have written on here since I started my new job at Fifth Third Bank, but if not then I should tell you that I am a personal banker there. I work in Kanawha City and it is the best job I've

had so far. I definitely want to stay in banking for a while. I enjoy talking to people about their money and helping them when I can.

I have been able to get a lot more involved in church over the past few months, too. It all started last year when Amanda signed up to play on the women's softball team. I helped coach the team and ever since then we have been involved a lot more. I now coach a team for Upward basketball and volunteer to help run the league each Saturday. It has sure been a sacrifice, but I love every minute of it. I just started on the church bowling league and am enjoying it. I hope to start getting more involved in prayer groups and even get a Bible study at my house once a week; at least that is what I hope for. Our church is AWESOME. If you have never been to Maranatha then I strongly encourage you to check it out. God has definitely blessed 2910 Kanawha Terrace.

Lazy Day

We didn't go to church today. Past Wright is on vacation and we have been on the road a lot lately and we thought we would take a day and stay home. We have really been lazy today. We stayed in bed until around 12:30 and then the suddenlink tech came to fix our Internet. He only had to replace an ethernet cable, which I could have done myself, but I didn't realize that was the problem. It was hilarious watching him trying to poke around on my IMac though. It was obvious he's never used one before.

I did go out and clean the inside of the car after later this afternoon. I swept it out and shined up the dash with armor-all. I found a set of keys that I thought I lost months ago. They were under the carpet, under the passenger seat. There is only one small vent hole under there that they could have squeezed through and somehow they did. While I was outside, Amanda made us some barbecue sandwiches. I definitely ate too much. But, it was excellent.

Now, I am sitting here watching Barbershop (I love this movie) and tying on here while Amanda watches her soap opera thing. I hate those shows. We are going to watch a movie we rented earlier called "International" as soon as I get offline. I hope to get Netflix again soon. We had Blockbuster's online service, but we didn't seem to use it enough to justify paying for it, but now we watch movies a lot more and I want to get Netflix this time. My friend, Jesse, told me to get it because I get download movies straight to my television with it. I definitely want to do that.

Okay, now it's time to watch the movie. I just reread everything on FDIC coverages. I get asked about them about 10 times daily and I figured it's time I know more about it. It's actually pretty interesting. I can now feel more confident the next time I get the question.

Here We GO!

I've not posted in a while and I am excited to be typing a few thoughts this evening. There is something peaceful about being able to write down what I'm thinking and what's going on in my life. My life has changed a lot in the past 45 days. I've jumped right in to working at the bank and though my hours are so much better than Beneficial, they are also much more hectic and I love it. I feel like I've worked 60 hours a week by the time Friday at 6:00pm rolls around. I am learning so much new and interesting information and I want to learn it all as fast as I can. Every customer that comes in the door has their own personal situation and I love being there "banker" and helping with their needs. It's nice to be able to offer products that customers want and love. I know our customers at Beneficial needed what we offered, but they sure didn't love them.

The other major even in my life right now is that Amanda and I plan on making an offer on our first home tomorrow. We have waited so long and we are finally ready to take the plunge. I am petrified of being a home owner and of course very apprehensive on taking on a larger payment and not having the landlord to call anytime I want, but that won't stop us from doing it anyway. I'll write more about the house and the area after we "hopefully" get to purchase it. It's nice working in the office next to the mortgage loan officer so I can pester him everyday until our loan is finished.

I better go. Amanda has already passed out and I have to work tomorrow from 9-12.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get on here more often and write things, but with work, Amanda's softball games, and all of Carlie's and Katie's different activities going on it's hard to do much of anything else. Until next time......

6 days and counting....

I'm down to six days until I go back to work. :( I have to go to Ashland, Kentucky to the Fifth Third banking center for a week beginning on the 27th. I want to try and enjoy this week as much as I can because I'm certain I won't have many days off once this all gets started. I haven't had a chance to do much this week though. Yesterday, I went to get the mail and to Kroger to pick up a few groceries and was back in the house for the remainder of the day. Today, I haven't left. I watched Twilight again so I could compare and contrast the differences in the book. I hadn't read the book before I watched the movie the first time. Obviously, the book is much better.

American Idol is on tonight. I love cuddling up to my wife and watching it. We always have our favorite and usually our picks are the same. Danny Gokey is our pick this year. We do like Adam Lambert, but he's a little too gay for us. Allison is my second favorite. She seems so natural. I know she will make it to the final 3.


Amanda and I signed up for softball at church. We thought there may be a coed but there wasn't so we have different schedules. Amanda already knows that her first game is this Friday, but I haven't heard anything yet. She keeps trying to back out on me, but I told her it would be good for her. I think once she goes to the first game she will love it and want to play. I am excited to play as well. I hope the coach calls me soon. I'm sure I won't be the best out there, but I hope that I can at least compete. I'm so out of shape right now it's sad.

Amanda and I have been trying to work out a little since I've been out of work. We did an abs video yesterday and I can hardly stretch out my stomach today. It hurts everytime I stand. I lifted a little while she did the wii fit and the tread mill. I've also been stretching out my back daily because it's been sore.

It's time for my love to come home now. I am going to update twitter, which I am addicted to, and then it's time for dinner and the AI tonight. Until next time.

A new beginning

I've not posted in a few weeks so I guess it's that time. I was officially offered the position as Retail Personal Banker for Fifth Third Bank today. The idea of just having a new job definitely lifts a weight off my shoulders. I knew that God would take care of everything, but it is only human to worry. My salary will be more than I made at Beneficial, but the commission is going to be less, at least for now. I suspect that it will get better once the economy picks up. I pray this is where God is leading me because I did have my heart set on teaching, but something tells me this is where I need to be. I am excited to get started and to excel in this position. I know God will have placed me there for a reason too, so it will be exciting to find out why.

Have I mentioned before that I have the greatest wife on the planet? I am super excited for us to finally be able to purchase a home and get out of this small townhouse. We would love to be able to start a family before we are 30. She's so great and understands that we are just living one day at a time and trusting God. She backs me 100% and knows that everything will work out. If i decide tomorrow that I want to teach and not work at 5th 3rd, she would never complain. I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

It's definitely time for bed now. It's been an uneventful yet tiring day. I got the 53 news early and had to call my family and friends and communicate it. Next, I had to clean house, go to the grocery store and mailbox. Finally, I had to cook dinner, which was quite good I might add, and then do the dishes and get ready for Idol. We also watched 2 dvr'd episodes of Howie Do It. Oh yeah, does it kill anyone else that American Idol always goes past their time allotment and the dvr missed the ending? I just wanna scream. Goodnight.

We were on our death beds

Last week was one of the worst weeks of my entire life. I would venture to say that it was THE worst week of my entire life. The only good thing that could have came from me being down with sinusitis, bronchitis, and the flu at the same time was that Amanda was there right there wrapped in the sweat drenched bed sheets with me. I never want her to be sick, but if we both had to go through it at least we were together.

It all started the week of my parents party. I started getting sick on Tuesday so I immediately went to the doctor for fear of being sick for the party. I got put on a Z pack and I actually made it through the party and started feeling better. I think I ran myself down between the packing, the party and the unpacking afterward because Monday I started feeling even worse. Apparently I had spread everything to Amanda too because when she came home from work on Monday she went straight to bed. We were in the bed all day Tuesday with temperatures over 103 degrees. Trust me, when your temperature is that high it's not even fun to lie in bed and watch TV. It was definitely a miserable day. We were both ready to head to the doctor (my second visit) on Wednesday morning. Amanda's temperature was 104.1 and mine was 102.7 at the doctor. The doctor wrote her 3 prescriptions and me 2 more, which was a total of 4 for me, and off we went. Wednesday and Thursday were miserable days of sweating, sleeping, and moaning. We finally drug ourselves out of the bed on Friday for Amanda's twin sister and her husband and kids to come for the weekend. We still aren't well today, but at least our temperatures are gone and she is working and I am typing this. I am thankful for that!

I did lose almost 10 pounds last week. The only thing Amanda and I felt like eating were peaches. We went through 3 jars worth I think. We watched some crazy TV shows during those miserable days too. Operation Repo was probably my favorite. If you haven't seen it I would say to do so if you want some laughs. I am usually not the biggest proponent for flu shots, but next year I will be one of the first in line. I literally thought I was going to die and was praying for the Lord to take me home last week. It's crazy how fast your world can change from a sickness like that. I hope and pray we never have to go through it again.

Another day of unemployment

I applied to the Transition to Teaching program today. I hope everything goes well with it. Everyone say a prayer for me. I haven't heard anything from Chase yet and this is day 5. The recruiter said it would take a week, but who knows. If I get into Transition to Teaching, I could possibly be in a school next year, but if I don't I may have to go back to school full time for 3 to 4 semesters. I really don't want to have to go through all that again, but I guess I have to do what I have to do. I know I'll be making less money than I have been accustomed to, but the hours will be better and teaching will be extremely rewarding. I am ready for the next step in my life.

It's time to get dinner on the table. I think I am going with turkey and mashed potatoes today. I still have dishes to do and the bed to make though. I should have had this done already, but I can't ever seem to get off the computer, especially since I purchased the new IMac. :)