From Not Much Exciting to A Lot Exciting!

Sometimes life seems like it's moving at a snail's pace. Nothing of great significance is happening and everyday happens like clockwork. Then suddenly EVERYTHING changes and life is completely upside down!
That's how things have seemed here in just a matter of just over a week. And this is no little change. This is massively huge and crazy! And it hasn't been without tons of thinking and prayer. Anyhow, our friends, Jason and Tony, were laid off from their construction job because the job ended. They were both offered jobs in South Carolina and they accepted after trying and not succeeding to find jobs in Canon City. Both Jason and Tony said that they were still looking for more workers and began tempting DJ. And of course, DJ was not too interested considering he has basically vowed to never leave Canon. But they kept mentioning the perks that go along with the job, we became more interested. So I began praying about the decision considering it isn't just a move to another town. It is a move clear across the country! I started gathering as much information as I could because I knew that even though DJ was very skeptical, we couldn't make a decision without any information. With every bit of news I got about the job and the opportunity, I got more excited and sure. I feel as though I've been praying almost constantly for the last week and a half! Pretty soon, DJ came around to the idea of the great things moving away and getting a new job could do!
So that pretty much brings us up to today. We're both very ready to get the ball rolling to go. Of course we're nervous about being so far away from family. And we don't know what a completely different job, town, climate, culture and time zone will feel like, but we are looking forward to the adventure of it. Well, me more than DJ, but I think he's getting more excited about it.
The job DJ will have is called a Rod Man. He'll be holding the stick that the Surveyor looks at through the little thingy. Yes, so descriptive, but that's the best I can do. :) He'll basically just be standing around doing that most of the 60 hours a week he'll be working. He has the potential to learn how to be a surveyor and move up and get more pay. Speaking of pay: He'll be getting about the same amount of money per hour, but they'll be working an extra 20 hours per week. 6-10s. On top of that they will be getting perdiem for everyday they work and if they show up to every shift, they get paid perdiem for the days they're off too. So, in short, we'll be making almost three times what we're getting paid now. It's sure hard to pass up a deal like that. Especially with the prospect of moving up the ladder and getting a pay increase. Plus, you can do Survey work just about anywhere construction is going on.
Other perks:
#1. Our friends will be there with us. If had to move away, you'd sure want to go with someone you knew. They are great friends and will provide awesome support. We'll all need that.
#2. The weather! It's warm! Like right now it's 60 degrees. Seriously. Of course I'll probably be whining when it's super hot and humid. So when that time comes tell me to shut up.
#3. The beach is about 2 hours away. That one is self explanatory.
#4. My uncle, cousins other family are about 3 hours away.
#5. The town we're all looking at is very close to Columbia which has shopping. That one is pretty self explanatory, too.
#6. I'm not qualified to do Massage Therapy in South Carolina. This may not seem like a perk, but I'm stoked! I can be a stay at home mama!
#7. They offer the same program that Colorado Virtual Academy offers here, it's just for South Carolina.
#8. We can do things like get gym memberships and have regularly scheduled activities without major interruption.
#9. When DJ is off he's off. No being on call 24 hours a day. No surprise fires and no two week dispatches. Oh and no more sooty, black nomex to wash all by themselves. Gar, that drives me crazy.
#10. the opportunity to grow closer to my husband and my Lord and my family. As much of a blessing having my parents around to be a Godly influence on my kids is, I really think it will cause DJ and I to step up as parents and spouses and become the people God intended us to be. It's gonna be tough and I'm sure we'll have times when we second guess ourselves. But we know God is pointing us in this direction so we know good things are to come.
The next step? We are waiting to hear from Jason, who will be talking to his boss about getting DJ a job. Supposedly, last Jason knew, they were hiring, so it shouldn't be a problem. But if God doesn't want us there, this is when he can truly close the doors. We're anxiously awaiting the news, so please pray and I'll keep you updated! :)

Not Much Exciting

So I have committed to blogging more often, so since I have a few extra minutes I am making myself blog even though I don't feel like there is much to blog about!
All of us here in the Chess household are beginning to feel better, I think. I think. I don't want to speak too soon, but it seems as though there is end in sight. Jerome got sick first with a nasty sinus infection turned to ear and eye infection and a cough that was so bad he puked several times. Once he got on antibiotics it cleared up quickly. Then Bailey was next with the same junk and since it was a week day that she felt her worst, we made an appointment with the homeopathic doctor in Colorado Springs. He gave us a couple tinctures and some natural cold and flu medicine. It took a little longer to clear up, but she's doing well now. Somewhere in the middle of all that I started feeling yucky, but it wasn't anything too bad so I let it go, but this weekend it all hit me hard. I just got back from the doctor and he thinks I just have allergies, with a little viral infection on top of it, but I'm not so convinced. We'll see. I just have a raspy sore throat and the aches.
On another note, DJ and I started watching Lost in the evenings after the kids go to bed. Our blu-ray player streams Netflix so we can watch any of the "watch it now" movies on our TV rather than the computer. It is much more comfy on the couch rather than the computer chair! We're totally hooked and can't wait to dive into the second season after DJ gets home from his Wild Horse and Burro trip on Friday. We're bummed to be missing the final season on TV starting tonight, but it must be watched in order!
A couple of weeks ago we bought a bunk bed for the kids! It was $100 and came with mattresses and everything, which is a steal! The mattresses are in good shape, but the frame needed some work. So we hauled it down to my parents basement and DJ has been using his creative mind to make it stronger and to build stairs since Bailey will be sleeping on top. I have spent my time painting it white. It looks great! Our next step is to finish building the stairs and to paint them. Then we've got to take it all apart and move it to our house! The kids are excited and I'm excited for them to have more open space in their bedroom.
That's all for now... :)

One of my New Year's Resolutions

Wow! I can't believe it's been six months since I posted last. Well, actually, maybe I can. Of course it's been super busy for all of us and blogging hasn't been much of a priority for me. And it doesn't help when no one else is blogging or reading your blog. But I'm making a New Year's Resolution: I am going to blog more. Even if no one reads it.
For Christmas presents for my In-laws I made genealogy books for the Chess Family. I researched all of DJ's dad's family and found some really interesting things. I made a couple trips to the History Center here in Canon and got some cool stories about where the Chess Family homesteaded and got some old newspaper articles from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Online I found a letter from Robert Chess (one of DJ's great great great (etc.) Grandfathers) to one of his brothers. It was while Robert was in the Civil War. It's a long letter. SO cool. Other than that letter, I only got a couple of stories written by the actual people in the Chess line. My search got me clear back to 1775 and now I'm stuck. So this research has inspired me to record more for our family to know where we came from, what we are doing and what life is like for us. Even the most mundane thing for us could be so fun and interesting for our families in 100 years. We can hope all we want the rapture happens before then, but it might not and I think it would be great to have as much info from our time as possible.
So that's some food for thought for the rest of you.

Retro Life

Ok girls, I got a huge kick out of this and I'm sure you will too. Click on this link and check it out. There are some neat photos of back in the day, but about two thirds down you'll see a little article titled The Good Wife's Guide. Read it and let me know if you think times have changed! :)
Enjoy the laugh!

Seemingly Meaningless

Ok, so Diane had a talk with me when she was at my house the other night. She explained to me that I needed to post on my blog and that it didn't matter totally what it was about and that even if it seemed unimportant to me, everyone would probably enjoy hearing about it. So here goes.
This morning I woke up to my son standing by my bed at 6:30 am. He was saying something to me but I was still out of it so I couldn't understand him. Soon, as he kept saying the same thing over and over again, I started to understand him. It sounded like "poop... foor". Okay! I'm awake! At that point I notice he's naked holding a pair of his undies. So I say, "did you poop in your pants?" And he says, "no". So I say, "did you poop in your diaper?" and he says, "no". So I say, "did you poop on the floor?" and he says "Yeah!". Grrreeaaatt. So I jump out of bed and asked him to show me and he heads into the bathroom. I look all around and didn't see anything and the potty chair is clean. Bailey was in there so I asked her if Jerome pooped on the floor and she told me yes and pointed. I look and the poop was conveniently the same color as our floor so it had blended in nicely. Lovely. The poop was about six inches away from the potty chair! What the heck. Not six inches away like he just didn't quite make it. Six inches away, like on the other side of the potty. Grrrr! All I have to say is that I'm thankful we're past the playing with it stage!

I just set up mobile blogging with my phone so I'm trying it out! It is amazing what they can do with technology. . . what will they come up with next? :)

Top 10 Reasons

I know you all are itching to hear something from me and I feel bad about not doing it more often. I'm constantly thinking of things I can blog about, but never seem to find the time to get them done. Since I have a free evening (holy cow, how did that happen, you ask? You'll find out momentarily), here are the top 10 reasons I haven't been blogging as much as I have wanted to. It will also give you a good idea of what I've been doing lately!
In no particular order:

1. I'm still working at K-Bobs! Of course you already knew this, but it is one very good reason I've not been able to have much time to myself. Things are going well there, other than one thing. For lack of a better description there is a "family" of "regulars" that are total jerks. Actually jerk is a nice term for them. They come in AT LEAST 4 times a week and chew out every server they get, except for Kelly who, I quote, "Is the only one who can actually get it right!" So when I manage to see them coming I run to the host station and beg them to not give the jerks to me. I will bribe, I will pay good money to not have them in my section. Seriously. Other than that, I usually look forward to going into work, which is nice!

2. We're refinancing our house. Still. Since we've started the Dave Ramsey Plan, we decided to refinance the house to get some extra cash to pay off and down some debt. I'm glad that back at the end of February I decided to jump on it instantly, because we are still waiting to sign the final papers. To spare you from some really boring details, we've had to jump through some stupid red tape, but everything should be coming together sometime this week. Although that's like the 20th time we've heard that... so I'm not getting my hopes up. :)

3. Like I said a minute ago, we started the Dave Ramsey Plan! We planned on going to the weekly classes offered, but decided with our nutty schedule that would never work, so after some discussion with my parents we chose to make a small but worthwhile investment in the whole set to be able to do it all at home on our own time. We're starting on the 4th week, but have been at it about 5 weeks now and it has been totally awesome. If you find yourself with the opportunity to take the class, I would highly recommend it. So far we've saved $1,100 and we're budgeting monthly for things like car repairs, tires, home repairs, Christmas, clothing and putting extra on debt. We've also cut up all our credit cards! Added bonus? You laugh clear through it!

4. Family Kneads is in demand. Most of the time I'm having to book appointments 2 weeks out. It really is a good problem to have, but gets somewhat frustrating when new clients want to get in right this very moment despite the fact that it's Friday night and their back has been hurting since Sunday night. Helllooo?! Grrr....

5. On a not so great note, we've had almost constant sickness in our house since the end of February starting with Bailey's eye infection, then to bronchitis, double ear infections, and sinus infections. Stick in 3 weeks of my major, hard-core sinus infection and two days of the flu for me. On to projectile vomiting and diarrhea from Bailey (who has always been able to puke from her toes) and then from Jerome hours later, we think from food poisoning from a place I vow for the second -and final time- to never go to again. I'm even ashamed to mention where the food was from. Anyway... Next was Bailey's two days of 103 fever. At this point we really thought that was the end. DJ even managed to stay away from all of it! Then, last Friday night Bailey started acting a little feverish and Jerome started getting this nasty green goo coming out of his eyes and his nose. OH MY GOSH. Oh yeah, I have to add that while DJ was staying home with the kids today from Easter Sunday, he started feeling bad. He's currently in bed with a 104.2 fever. Awesome. NOT! Please pray I don't get it. I don't have time to get it.

6. I started a new job! I know what you're thinking, "this girl's an idiot!" Yes, I think I am. However, it is only to do the bookkeeping for the financial secretary at church for about 7 more weeks while she is on vacation. It is only one day a week for about 6 to 7 hours. It doesn't pay too bad, so that's one more way to pay down some debt.

7. Counseling. We've taken a break since our Pastor went on vacation for a couple weeks, but we are getting ready to get started again. Things are going great with DJ and I, by the way. Of course marriage takes work. A lot of work every single day, but the rewards are so great and we are closer than we've ever been. That's not to say there aren't any problems at all, but there are a ton less and we're managing to work through them without major turmoil. Yay!

8. We've started a new workout program. Sorta. We kinda weenied out during the first week because I had some super late nights at work and we were getting super tired. We were planning on getting going again tomorrow morning, but with DJ's lovely sickness and needing to take the kids to the doctor early tomorrow morning, I'm thinking it won't happen. It's called P90X and it's an awesome work out. Full with warm up, cool down and a nice heavy sweat in the middle! I'm psyched about it... as soon as we get started for real, that is. :)

9. I'm a mom! Yeah, I have two kids and a husband that create dirty laundry, dirty floors, dirty dishes, dirty toilets and dirty diapers (well, DJ doesn't create those, but you get the point). So I'm constantly trying to catch up on all of that. DJ's really been a super good sport about cooking dinner and cleaning and has really helped me out a lot. I'm so thankful for a husband that's willing to be mister mom for a while!

10. We're looking into, and seriously considering homeschooling. I've been doing some research and talking to people about it and I've really been feeling like God's been working on my heart about it. I've always wanted to send my kids to public school, but I'm realizing that may not be the best for our family. I'm not a fanatic and I believe the choice is purely personal, but we are definitely leaning that direction. I'm really excited about it and can't wait to see everything move forward. After all, Bailey will be starting kindergarten, not this fall, but next! Can you believe it!? We have decided that if/when I start homeschooling that my working is really not practical, so we are praying that if God wants us to do this, that he provides the situation where we can afford for me to stay home completely or just do a few massages a week to help out. I know how stressed out I can get and I want my full attention to be on the kids' education. And to all you skeptics out there, I promise, my kids won't turn out weird. Promise.