Progress

I am glad to see that gas has finally gotten below $2 in some places. I know we can use the money we'll save there elsewhere.

Going to workout tonight. Been wanting to start again for a while but did not want to take an hour and a half to do it. Joel and I are going to try something Wes suggested. Our whole workout should take about 30 min.

It's getting consistently colder. Will be glad to have a break from the cold for 3 weeks in December. 

Cardboard boxes had accumulated on our front porch from all the orders we receive. Gerald, the landlord, was kind enough to help me load him in his truck and he took them to the dump. Something I had been meaning to do.

Seems like I have been doing  a lot of things lately that I had been putting off. Is it a form of discipline I am developing? I guess my efforts to stop procrastinating are starting to pay off. I still have a ways to go but hey... progress is being made.

Refresh

I have not posted anything for a while. I asked myself why and came to the conclusion that I was afraid. I was afraid to post my thoughts for fear of offending people or for fear of how they would react to thing that I believe. No more.

If I can't post my thoughts and take a little criticism then what is the point? Besides, true friends will either understand or agree to disagree. I am fine with that. So, I will start posting again. I feel the need to organize my thoughts in written form. I do not claim to be a writer, poet, or guru in anything; but this is just me, my opinions, fears, joys, news, in a way that all may share, enjoy with me, stay updated, maybe even learn, grow and change with me.

So, my journey begins. You're welcome to join me.

Recent happenings in the Matheny household...

So apparently we're not very good at keeping up with this whole blogging thing...considering I last posted in April. O well. =)

I'm still working at Lowe's and actually enjoying it! I have completed all of the hours needed for my internship. I just need to finish up the paper and evaluation to get my credit. I'm working in the paint department, and I love the people I work with there. We have lots of fun.
Also, my design business is kinda starting to get off the ground. I've got a lady getting pictures in order for me to do a scrapbook for her. And from the way she was talking, she wants me to do 2 or 3 books for her. =) So that's really exciting. And I might be coordinating a wedding for a girl at work. She is engaged and the wedding is tentatively in April, but she doesn't even know where to start w/planning and such. I gave her an estimate on price, and she was like, "ok, we can do that." So hopefully we'll get that going soon too.

Along with working, I'm taking a couple of summer classes. One started this week. It's an online Computer Applications course. I really like this whole online thing. I'm already done with all of my assignments for the week. It's nice. That class will go on for the next 4 weeks. I'm also going to be taking a short course starting July 7. The course is Personal & Family Financial Planning. It'll be from 8-12 every day for 2 weeks. And of course my internship hours. So I'll have a total of 9 hours at the end of the summer term. That leaves me with only 19 left until graduation!! yay!! =D

Micah is still at the tux place (for now). That could change tomorrow though. He is waiting to hear back about a full-time warehouse job that he applied for. He has been moved up to the top of the list of applicants, so we're praying hard about that one. That will definitely be a great change for us, income- and time-wise. We'll keep yall posted on the situation there.

We were at the Malecha-Sain wedding this past weekend. Very pretty. Lauren looked gorgeous, as always. I'm pretty excited about it because that means I'll have someone to hang out with when they get back from the honeymoon. Summer is kinda lonely here because everyone goes home. And now I'm a townie, so I'm stuck here. lol.

Mom and Dad and Mo came up for the wedding, so it was good to see them too. I saw them just a couple of weeks ago, but Micah hasn't seen them since Easter I think. So that was fun.

I think that's all I have for now. I'll try to talk Micah into posting something. =) We'll keep yall updated on anything major that happens!

Be content with such things as you have...

There's a new country song that I hear on the radio all the time and it's made me think about life and such, so I figured I'd share my thoughts, since that's what a blog is for. =) The song is called "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. He's one of my favorite country artists, maybe because he reminds me a lot of my daddy. =) So here are the lyrics:

She was staring out the window
Of that SUV
Complaining, saying, 'I can't wait to turn eighteen.'
She said, 'I'll make my own money,
And I'll make my own rules.'
Momma put the car in park out there in front of the school.
And she kissed her head,
And said 'I was just like you.'

You're gonna miss this.
You're gonna want this back.
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times,
So take a good look around.
You may not know it know,
But you're gonna miss this.

Before she knows it,
She's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by.
He tells her it's a nice place.
She says, 'It'll do for now.'
Starts talking about babies,
And buying a house.
Daddy shakes his head,
And says 'Baby, just slow down.'

Cuz you're gonna miss this.
You're gonna want this back.
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times,
So take a good look around.
You may not know it now,
But you're gonna miss this.

Five years later there's a plumber
Working on the water heater.
Dog's barking, phone's ringing,
One kid's crying, one kid's screaming.
She keeps apologizing.
He says 'They don't bother me.
I've got two babies of my own.
One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three.
It's hard to believe...

But you're gonne miss this
You're gonna want this back.
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times,
So take a good look around.
You may not know it now,
But you're gonna miss this.


The 2nd verse (in blue) is obviously the one that applies to me more right now. It just reminds me that I really need to appreciate what we have right now. It's so hard to get frustrated and tired of this little matchbox that we call our home. We've both been really struggling with that lately, wanting to find a bigger place and move out. But I hear this song and I realize that one day, we're gonna miss this place. When things get hectic with kids and a bigger house to keep and all that, we're probably gonna be wishing we could come back to this little place. This song also reminds me that kids will change things (duh...), and Micah and I need this time to ourselves right now. We need to enjoy the time we have to just be together without the distractions that kids bring.

The apostle Paul said that he learned to be content in whatever state he found himself in. That's definitely something to work on. I know that if I'm just content being where we are, we'll be happy, no matter what happens. =)

Long time no see!

So, it's been pretty much forever since we've posted anything on here. We're not quite used to this whole blogging thing apparently. A ton of stuff has happened since I last posted.

As far as jobs go:
Micah is enjoying his job at MW Tux. There is a possibility that he'll be made full time after prom, so that'll be good. He's still keeping his ears open for a full time job that will give him evenings off.
I've just started working at Lowe's. I'm working in the paint department! I'm really excited to learn about mixing paint and painting techniques and such. Plus, I can use this for my internship hours.

In the school arena:
Micah has actually withdrawn from classes. The missions program at Freed is a great program, but a little too basic for someone who grew up on the mission field. You don't need a degree to do mission work. Plus, he's found something else that he loves to do that also doesn't require a degree...but I'll let him explain about all that if he wants to. =)
I am holding onto a strong 4.0 at this point in the semester...which is actually kinda bad for me, because it's making my senioritis even worse. lol. This is my last full time semester of school. This summer, I'm taking an online Computer Applications course and a 2 week short course (Personal and Family Financial Planning). Both of them are general education requirements. I'll also be counting internship hours in the spring. I have to have 3 credit hours, and one credit hour is equal to 40 hours of work. I'll have to keep a journal and write a summary of my internship experience. In the fall, I'm taking 10 hours: racquetball (gen ed req), interiors portfolio (major req), CAD (computer program used in interiors), and marketing promotions (major req). Then in the spring, I'll take Values (gen ed req), Household and Institutional Equipment (kitchen design, major req), and Home Interiors (major req). I'm done with my psychology minor after this semester.

Paige, Lauren, and I are all helping out in the cradle roll class at church on Wednesday nights. We're designated baby holders. =) There are a lot of babies at Henderson right now. On an average Wednesday night, we'll have about 6. At first, our guys were a bit worried that we would all get "the fever." But I'm pretty sure that being in there makes me even more content to play with the babies and then give them back to their parents. lol. So just to answer any questions you overly-curious people may be having...lol ;-)

We're planning on heading to Huntsville next weekend. Candy is having her c-section on thursday afternoon so we're gonna try to go down and see the baby. I'm so excited!! Micah is off Saturday so we'll head down Friday night after he gets off and come back on Saturday night because Micah has to work Sunday.

I think that's all I have right now. I guess we'll try to keep yall more updated on what's going on. See ya next time!

Huntsvegas!

We've been in Huntsville this weekend. I was so excited all week, ready to come home. Haven't been here since Christmas. Haven't gotten to go to church here since before the wedding. So that's been the longest I've ever been away from home...2 months. (Of course Mr. Brazilian is sitting over here like, 'yeah, big deal...') but it is a big deal to me. We got to go to dinner with my family and the Lamicas Friday night. Had a good time.

We met with the wedding photographer yesterday afternoon. I thought that the wedding proofs had come off of the website because they were only supposed to be up for a month. Turns out, he was getting so many hits from people looking at our pictures that he left them up. =) So I figured I could post the link on here for yall to go check them out if you wanted to.
http://customimages.org/hm121507.htm

Looked around for a car a little bit yesterday. We found a few in our price ranges that were decent deals, but Dad said that he's pretty confident we could find something really good. Found a black Nissan Maxima in pretty good condition, considering it had 289,000 miles on it. So we were kinda iffy about that one. Also found a black Honda Accord with 180,000 or so miles on it. It was listed at $5295 but the salesman dropped it down to $3500 when we still weren't sure. So that made us think, ok, what's is wrong with this thing that you want it off your lot THAT bad? Lol. We're still gonna look around some more and hopefully we'll come across a good deal sometime soon.

We got some really exciting news on Friday. Micah used to work at Afterhours Formalwear but was treated really wrong by the manager and cheated out of hours and commission. Micah eventually quit because the manager wasn't even giving him 10 hours for a few weeks in a row. (We found out later that he was doing it intentionally so that Micah would quit...no idea why except that he's a crook.) Well, they have been trying to fire this manager for months now. The assistant manager kept telling Micah that they would give him a call and he could come back and work there. After about 5 months of never getting the phone call, we kinda gave up. We especially gave up when the store got bought out by Men's Wearhouse.
So just Wednesday or Thursday, Micah and I were talking about him looking for another job with a more stable income and where he would'nt have to be out til 1230 or 1 or even 2 on nights when he closed.
Well, lo and behold, Friday afternoon we get a call from Afterhours (now MW Tux). The assistant manager calls and says "You ready?" They've finally gotten rid of the manager and have offered Micah the 3rd key position. That position guarantees at least 37 hours a week. The hourly pay will be much better and he'll get commission. So we're really excited. It's definitely a prayer answered. He filled out an application online that night and he'll be going in for an interview sometime this week. Then he'll start ASAP. So we're really excited about that.

Basketball is going well. We had 2 games last week. We actually won both of them by mercy rule. It was definitely a good change after our really rough game the week before. I've got 2 or 3 games this week and I think Micah has 1. Not sure if I'll be able to play this week tho. I've got 23 pages due Thursday and Friday between 3 of my classes. I've only done 3. =) So I may have to forego the games in order to get work done.

I think that's all the news we have right now. We'll keep ya updated! =)

Losing with Dignity

Oo! My very first blog! This is kinda exciting! =)

School is going pretty well for me. I've got a lot of artsy-fartsy classes that require a good bit of outside work, so they're gonna keep me really busy. Intro to Photography is going to be a lot of fun. It requires a lot of work in the darkroom and assignments are due every week. Decorative Styles is one of my interiors classes. We've got either chapter summaries or a room design due every week. My other classes are Family & Individual Counseling (my last class for my psychology minor), Paul's Epistles III (it covers 1&2 Corinthians), and Consumer Behavior (required for my major: Merchandising and Interiors). I've got a quiz or memory verse test or project or photo assignment or homework assignment due just about every day. So I'll definitely be on my toes all semester.

As Micah has mentioned in his blogs, I'm playing on an intramural basketball team too. We are the Brats (no smarty pants comments on that one please...). Our record is 3-1 right now. Our first 3 games, we completely dominated. We all play really well together. We played last night against a club team (Chi Beta Chi). It was pretty much the hardest I have ever played any game. For those who don't know the divisions of intramurals, there is A, A.5, AA, & AAA. At least with the girls, A is for the people who don't really know much about rules of the game or how to play, but wanna have fun anyways. A.5 are the people who know how to play, but still aren't all that great. AA is your people who probably played in high school, but weren't the stars of the team. AAA is for those who started on their high school basketball teams. We play A. We MIGHT could hang with A.5, but we would lose most of our games.

The team we played last night could have easily been a AA team. Most of them had obviously played in high school. We only had one sub, they had 3 or 4. Then, they put our 6-foot star out of commission with a rolled ankle in the middle of the first half. We somehow, miraculously, stayed ahead for most of the game. Then we all started getting tired (understandably) and they got ahead. But just by one point.

We are all pretty proud of ourselves for doing so well against such a good team. The only thing we could have done better was to keep our attitudes in check. I've seen other teams with attitudes that were a lot worse, but we could've done a lot better. By the end of it, they had gotten a second wind, and we were all about to pass out (literally). So we all started getting pretty frustrated. We are all pretty competitive, so it kinda got to us that we had worked so hard to stay ahead and then lost by 1 point in the last 5 minutes or so of the game. I thought about the game a lot last night (while I was laying on the couch trying not to black out and waiting for enough energy to get a shower), and there was a verse that kept coming back into my head. It's the prayer that we used to pray before all of our volleyball games in middle/high school. "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptalbe in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer." It's a good verse to keep in mind in situations like that.

But we're excited about playing them next time. By then, Whitney will be back, and hopefully we'll have more subs. They definitely respect us after last night b/c we gave them a run for their money. They'll be scared next time. ;-)

Until next time!
Val