Historian

Well...you are reading this from the new VT-3 OSC Historian! Exciting to you I know. The historian position stems from the desire to do the squadron scrapbook for the Commander and his wife. You know me...Scrapbook Junkie!! (and not ashamed of it!) The shin-dig (elections) were at my house last night. We had a great turn out and I think everyone had a great time...I know I did. It was great to meet new girls and get to know more about the ones that I already knew. I am very excited about what the future holds for our little group.

On a quick side note, I had my interview this morning. I should know something at least by the end of next week. Please continue to pray for me and my unemployed situation. I will let you know when I know!

Contacts

I went to the eye doctor today for the first time in two years. I felt like my eyes were getting worse and I needed to get an updated prescription. Apparently, I am crazy. My eyes haven't changed but slightly, but because of my work on the computer constantly, it is causing me to wear my glasses more often. As a girl who can never seem to remember her glasses or seems to always sit on them, I decided to venture into the realm of ... contacts! It is day one...they are a little weird. I am supposed to wear them for 4-6 hours today, 6-8 on Wed., 8-10 Thurs., and then should be good to go on Friday. I am supposed to go back to the doctor in two weeks to report on how they feel and how I did, and then get the official ones! I have an astigmatism, so I never thought there would be a day that contacts would be an option...not to mention that I would have to wear glasses ALL the time. Anyway, being unemployed I am always excited when I have something to blog about!

Yoga

I guess that it is official...I do yoga. I have been to two sessions and have survived. I am taking it on base/station with a girlfriend of mine from the squadron...Kathleen. We are at a VERY small naval station and so the class if offered once a week and the instructor is a volunteer. It is a great class. Everyone in the class is new to yoga, so she takes it somewhat slow, yet very challenging, and it isn't crazy serious. We are there every Saturday. I am always surprised at how many guys are in the class! I had no idea that men in the military would be so into yoga. So far there have been about five of us that have been there consistently, with about ten others that try it once and I haven't seen back. I felt old this past Saturday in class. Come to find out, most of the people in the class are pilot training students at the base. They are all here to get their wings and move on...and all way younger than me. That is OK though. Hopefully their youth will rub off on me! I also attempted kickboxing on Friday. (Kathleen talked me into it.) I will save that story for another post!

On a side note, after applying for unemployment, I received a call from a company that I have been trying to get an interview with since my lay-off at Thanksgiving. I have a meeting/interview on Thursday. Hopefully I will have good news to report at the end of the week!

Fraud and Unemployment

Taris is on a cross-country in Dallas and called me at 12:26 this morning. He asked if I had used the credit card to purchase a big trip. I could not grasp what was going on, since I had been sleeping! Apparently, someone out in the world has gotten our credit card number and bought a plane ticket. Can you believe it? I have been racking my brain trying to figure out where I went wrong? Was it one of the companies that I bought Christmas gifts from? Was it the stores from the mall? I have come up blank! There is nothing that will strike fear into a person faster than finding out that someone is out there having a hay day on your credit! (I have been reassured that I have zero liability and I appreciate that, but that is beside the point.) I will keep you updated as things progress...they tell us that it should be resolved in one week. I hope that is true!

On another note, I filed unemployment yesterday. Florida is very high tech and I was able to do it all online with out having to take myself down to the office. They will have a ruling (on whether I qualify) within two weeks. I certainly hope that I will not have to be on it long.

Kill them with Kindness

When I was younger, we are talking early 90's, I was friends with someone who was always mean...we will call him "Bob". There was never a kind word from Bob, always hateful, but for some reason I felt drawn to Bob and wanted to befriend him. I remember telling my dad about how mean Bob was and how I was ready to forget about it. He told me to "kill them with kindness". This was what a good Christian person would do and that my kindness would eventually break Bob down and he in turn would be kind. I tried "killing Bob with kindness", but to no avail ... I was ready to just KILL Bob! I never gave up on Bob and to this day when we see each other or speak through email, I make it a point to be positive and kind.

I talk about my past, because today I was doing my daily bible reading for my Navigators class and I was reading through the book of Romans. And then, there it was. The words that my dad told me oh so long ago!

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Romans 12:20-21

Killing your enemy/evil with goodness and kindness is not only a good Christian thing to do, but it is something God requests of us. Man, my dad is one smart dude! No wonder he is such an amazing man of God!

C.O.W.

So last night I went to my first "Navy" gathering. I use the term Navy because we girls in the Air Force don't have a party with this particular theme. We had a COW party. It is a party to honor the incoming Commanding Officer's Wife...COW. The idea was to bring cow themed gifts for the wife. It was so much fun. Living in Florida, there isn't a whole lot of cow themed anything, so I channeled my inner craftiness and sat down to sew. (Side note...I was fortunate to get my Nana's sewing machine and cabinet this past Christmas. It is circa 1952 and I am honored to have the opportunity to use it. It runs really well, considering the age and I only need basics right now anyway.) I found a pattern and taught myself how to sew. I made a cow purse (with the furry fabric) with bandanna lining and handles. I must say that I am a little sad to have given away the very first thing that I have sewn, but I hope that she uses it often. It was by no means perfect, but I have certainly gotten the sewing bug in me now and can't stop myself. Sewing is so much faster and easier than knitting!

The finished product!

The inside.

I also brought a dessert. I decided to make cow cupcakes. They weren't perfect, but for a quick 20 minutes they didn't turn out too bad.

Navigators 2:7

So on Wednesday nights I am in a bible study with some of the ladies from the church. The study is called Navigators 2:7. The idea of the study is to give you more of a foundation of faith and knowledge of the scriptures, so that you can share your faith and your story. I was so encouraged by all of the wonderful ladies in the class. There are only ten of us, but these ladies are all kind, open, and eager to learn. If you have never heard of the Navigators series, I highly recommend it. It is a really involving series with three books. I am of course in book one, where you learn to "sharpen your quiet time and memorize key verses on the most essential elements to Christian living". I am very excited about the journey ahead. I am sure that I will have so much more to talk about as the class continues. I pray that God will open my eyes to his word and my heart to his lessons that he teaches me daily.

Our memory verse for next time is:
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12

Job Hunting

For those of you that may not have known, I was laid off from a mortgage company the Tuesday of Thanksgiving. It was a sub-prime company and there were two offices in Pensacola. It was inevitable that they would combine the two, I just never thought that it would be me on the chopping block. I lost out to a wonderful lady who has been with the company for over ten years. I understand seniority, no hard feelings. I tell you all of the background info in order to say this...

If there are so many jobs available, why can I not even get a face to face with anyone? I am baffled! I don't get it. I must have sent my resume out to over 50 different places. I have yet to get a call from one! I have worked through temp agencies...nothing. Am I blacklisted and don't know it? Is it the previous company that I worked for...unemployable because my last job was with "XYZ Finance"? If someone has figured it out, please tell me. I would love to know! It is a very humbling experience to know that if you could just get the opportunity to get in front of a company that you can totally sell yourself (and you would give anything for that opportunity), but you can't even get past door number 1! I am a like able girl. I am a hard worker, hate to make a mistake more than once, and am fired up about any opportunity for a job to prove myself. I feel like on my resume from now on I should put under my last job "not my fault...company downsized...lost to seniority...company thought it would be cheaper to pay me to leave than her". Is that legal? If I get one more rejection, I just might have to!

First Time!

Well...I decided that everyone seems to be doing one of these nowadays and no time like the present. Taris and I are surviving our transplant to Florida. We have been through two rather unexciting hurricane seasons (praise God) and will hopefully be blessed with two more. Taris is working with the Navy as a pilot training instructor. He is loving it and I am loving the beach and everyone coming to visit us.

For the basics...it is just the two of us. No kids, but we have three very demanding furry kids, Abbie, Roxanne, and Kacey. (Three "hoodlums" that I am sure I will be posting pictures and blogging about.) We currently live in Pace, Florida (right outside of Pensacola). It is a wonderful area. We have a great neighborhood with friendly neighbors, a wonderful church, a beach 10 minutes (or less) away, and an awesome squadron.

I guess that is all for now. Hope that you enjoy hearing about our world!