In My Garden

This year I have a REAL garden, and I haven’t even had much time to post about it.  Last year I had a container garden because despite knowing we would be moving from the place we were staying, I had such a yearning to garden.  It was a nice learning opportunity for me.  I did have some success, but there were also some frustrations.

Anyways, here are some photos:

I got a table and chairs a couple of weeks ago because I would spend so much time just looking at my garden, but had nowhere to sit!  I know I will enjoy many a cuppas out there.  I also set up my bunnies’ play pen so they can get some exercise.  They also help to mow that part of the yard.   We really have to watch out for the hawks around here so they are never in the pen without a cover.

Josh was so wonderful to lay down paving stone in my garden.  Though it seemed expensive at first, in the long run it will be cheaper and less work than laying down mulch every year.  We are still cutting and fitting in the small spaces, but I LOVE how it is looking.

So here it is.  In my garden I have:

five of six variety of tomatoes

ten or twelve green bean

four burpless cucumber

summer squash: zucchini and yellow

red onion

bunching onions

mesculin

romaine

three broccoli

eight eggplant, 2 variety

one gypsy pepper

six green pepper

six jalapeno

carrots

parsley

lemon verbena

marigolds

canterbury bells

forget-me-nots

All of the above are in the 4 squares.  Below are in containers or elsewhere in the yard:

basil

pesto basil

cilantro

oregano

chamomile

six blueberry bushes

twenty-five strawberry plants

two rhubarb

eight snow peas

bleeding hearts

a wee cherry tree

And we bought the house with an apple tree and a huge patch of black raspberries

I am fortunate to have the second best kind of manure one can have with my rabbits (first is pigeon poo).  So when I dug up the beds (OH, SO MUCH WORK!!) I added my bunny poo and some leaf rot that had been sitting in a pile because I don’t have a composter yet, some vermiculite and peat moss, and a little bit of top soil.  Costco has a composter that I want, but I have already spent so much on this garden for the year that I need to wait until things level out a bit.

So there you go.  We will see how things work out.  I am just really, really hoping for LOTS of tomatoes.  I know I may be disappointed because our soil is rocky (I am still picking out stones after each rain) and clay-y and the only place I could put the garden was near a huge shade tree, but next year I should have more nutrients in the soil.  I will go about things a bit differently.  I don’t really have a place to start plants from seed, so I will probably just have to buy all of my plants.  I also didn’t really organise the layout so things were placed a bit hap-hazardly.  But I love to watch things grow under my care and am excited to have the space to have my very own garden!

A Night on the Town

We got a deal on Mary Poppins tickets and were able to take the girls to Chicago last week.  They got to stay home from work and get dressed up.  We took them to Ed Debevic’s.  They LOVED the oldies and they shouted and cheered when our waiter got up on a ledge to dance to YMCA.  They got to stay up til midnight, but still had to go to work the next day.  I didn’t get to bed until 1am and had to get right back up at 5am to go back to work.  But it was a great time.

I LOVE IT!

 

“kamikaze midges in the mud”
“wait and wait for 1p change, and proudly give the lot to charity”

Made me laugh. I love Irn Bru adverts.

What To Do In Chicago?

We are taking the girls in our group home to see Marry Poppins tonight.  There is some debate about where to take them to eat.  It has been tradition to go to Rainforest Cafe (BLAH!) but one of the other staff says we should try something else (I second that!).  So we are going to try to talk our assistant manager into going to Ed Debevic’s.  Popular with the tourists, Ed’s is a 50’s diner style place with rude waitstaff (shirts say “eat and get out”), and singing and dancing on the tables.  I think the girls would have a lot of fun there.  They love burgers.  They love oldies.  They love to sing and dance.

We also have a staff outing coming up since we have been working to hard the last few months and we are to be thinking of ideas.  Again, Rainforest comes up and so does Cheesecake Factory.  As a native of Chicago I can come up with a million things that “I” would love to do, but they are not the exciting, kitch-y sort of things tourist would love to do.  I would LOVE to go to:

a great sandwich shoppe called Costello’s in Lincoln Square

pick up some flowers and lemon blueberry shortbread from the Lincoln Square farmer’s market

get some falafel and spices from the Middle Eastern Bakery

eat a cinnamon roll from Ann Sather

visit the Swedish Bakery (where we had our wedding cake made)

*the above were all places I would walk to frequently*

or pick up an awsome Italian lemonade from Mario’s **drool**

go to a movie/concert/dance in the park

hang out at Millenium Park

do some shopping at Cost Plus, Trader Joe’s, Spice House, Paper Source

eat at Maggiano’s

rollarblade on the lakefront path

spend an evening at Ravinia

just take a ride on the brown line and make impulse stops

and the list could go on and on.

But these are things that even I don’t do when in Chicago.  Well, I will try to fit a couple in.  But mostly I am there to visit with friends.  I would need to vacation there to get some of that out of my system.  But wheneven I might get the next chance to vacation I would probably rather see a different part of the country.  Ah, well.

Plant Sale Benefiting OE Group Homes

You are invited to find great bargains on your plants and also benefit a good cause. Beginning this Friday (May 8th) there will be a plant sale at Yeager’s Greenhouses (348N 450E, Valpo, Highway 2 to 450 E) each Friday and Saturday for the month of May. A good portion of the proceeds will go towards vacation funds for our group homes.

For many of our residents, WE are their family and it is a great treat for everyone to get out for a family vacation. For the last 2 years our girls went to Tennessee. They loved it so much and want to go back this year, but we’re thinking it would be a nice change to so something else.

This is THE fundraising event for our vacation fund so it would be awesome to have a great turn-out. And I am looking holding off on my plant purchasing until then.

Our group home will be working the sale the last weekend.

Now I’ve Got to Lie in It.

The garden is dug.  The beds have been made.

Garden and Beds

Bedroom

We finally finished the bedroom a few weeks ago.  We are happy with it.   And we are happy to NOT be living in our living room.

At the Library or Foot-in-Mouth Desease

I found a new library with an excellent selection of DVDs which is almost on the way to work.  So I’m a new patron.  I just returned some DVDs and am looking around and what to get when I hear this conversation:

Employee 1: Come here and look at this guy’s name! (pause) Isn’t that awful!

(my ears perk up)

Employee 2: Wow!  They must’ve really loved the movie!

E1: If that was MY name I would go by Del…and not tell ANYONE what my REAL name is!

E2: Yeah.  (laughter)

I look around a bit more and think about what to say, then take my DVDs to circulation

Me: (after the employee scans my card) Actually…I was NOT named after the movie and I quite like my name.

Red Faced Employee: Sorry.

About US

I was tagged by my friend at Potential and Expectations for this one.

What are your middle names?
Mine is Stephenie.  People usuall ask me what my middle name is when they meet me.  They think it will be something as original as my first name.  Then they ask me if I have any siblings.  I have a brother named Stephen. 

Josh would never allow me to share his middle name.  He only uses his initial, even for his degrees.  I’m quite suprised he shared it with me the first time we hung out together (we didn’t call them ‘dates’ because we were just ‘hanging out.’

How long have you been together?
We started dating, er, hanging out during my sophmore year in college.  We dated about 3 years before we were married and have been married 7 1/2 years.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Well, we KNEW OF eachother since jr. high/high school.  We went to the same camp on year.  I was friends with Josh’s brother, Chris.  I usually got along better with guys than girls.  One day at camp I was sick of all of my clothes.  I went to the boys cabin where I had a lot of friends.  I said I wanted to borrow a shirt.  They brought me out all of these weird looking silk shirts.  I said no, no, no.  They finally brought one out that was half way decent.  I said ok.  So I wore the shirt to chapel.  Before it started I was told, “That’s Chris’ brother’s shirt!”  I was mortified.  I hadn’t even met Chris’ brother.  Appearantly he was too busy with the popular girls.  So I sat there during chapel wondering which guy was Chris’ brother.  After chapel we were introduced.  I said, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.  He later told me that he wrestled the kid that gave his shirt to me.  I even have pictures of me wearing it!

Eventually we ended up at the same college, then on the same bro-sis floor.

Who asked whom out?
This is debated between he and I.  We were on the same bro-sis floor, so our floors did activities together and sat together during meals and chapel.  In October of every year we had missions conference.  We were both looking over the list of classes to go do, deciding what to do.  HE said (but he will tell you that I said) ‘Let’s go to this one.’  Then after that we went to nearly every one together and he even suggested we go to Starbucks during one of the breaks (he is not a coffee drinker).

Yes, we were one of those couples that got together during one of the conferences, which is what Moody was known for, but we were NOT one of those steriotypical couples, which is what we tried hard not to be.  We DID NOT hold hands over the salad bar and we DID NOT sit in a corner in the Alumni building gazing into eachother’s eyes.  Most people didn’t even know we were dating after a year.

How old are each of you?
31 and 32.  He is 11 months younger than me.  Josh wanted to get married when we were the same age, and thought that would be the ages on our marriage certificate.  Unfortunately his birthday was only 3 days before our wedding and we got the certificate a week before.  Josh was sorely disappointed that they put our current ages on the certificate rather than our ages when we were to get married. 

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine, as we currently live with him.  Josh has a sister in Asia and one in Alabama, so we don’t see them often.  He also has a brother who is a bit nearer in Indiana.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think most of our arguements are rooted in miscommunication.  I remember him saying something totally different from the way he remembers it.

Did you go to the same school?
Not high school, but we went to the same college for undergrad.  I went along with him for his Master’s. 

Are you from the same home town?
No, but close.  About a 30 minute drive apart.

Who is smarter?
Josh.

Who is the most sensitive?
Hmmm, I think it depends on the situation.  Josh has more patients and will not show anger or frustration unless he is really pushed to his limit.  While I can be very diplomatic when I put my mind to it, I can also have a hard time hiding my hurt and frustration, and it doesn’t take a lot to invoke those emotions in me.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We like to try new places, but we have not really had the money to explore much for a while.  We like to go places where we can use a coupon.
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Philippines.

Who has the craziest exes?
Neither of us have been married before and neither of us are in contact with anyone from our past relationships.

Who has the worst temper?
Me, but it’s a lot better than it used to be.

Who does the cooking?
When we were engaged he used to cook for me.  And when we were first married and working together he cooked a bit.  Now I can’t even get him to make his own lunches.  I do enjoy cooking very much, but I do ask him to help out a bit.  The only time I can really get him to cook is if we barbecue.  But of course I am the one that does the planning, shopping, preparing, and side-dish-making. 
Who is the neat-freak?
Josh.  He is very organised.  He gets frustrated when I leave papers on the dining table because they belong in the tray next to the desk.  We are both becoming more and more minimalist, so we both of us don’t like clutter.

Who is more stubborn?
Me.

Who hogs the bed?
I think we both try to give eachother space. 

Who wakes up earlier?
I have to get up at 5am most days for work.  Then I set the alarm for him to get up at 6:30.  I really want to find a dual alarm clock.

Where was your first date?
Our first official date was for my birthday.  We went to Cheesecake Factory.  At the end of our meal I went to use the restroom and came back to find the waiter talking to Josh.  His debit card had been declined.  There was someone else on his account that may have used the money.  So I had to pay.

Who is more jealous?
Neither one of us is jealous.  We don’t really give reason to be jealous.  Though we are open with eachother and have shared on one or two occassions when we saw that there could be potential issues with a co-worker or such.

How long did it take to get serious?
Josh claims he proclaimed his love to me during one of our first talks as we roamed the streets of Chicago well past our bedtimes but I was oblivious.  I say that if he did he must have done it in the most round about way possible.  I think we both felt very early on that we were committed to eachother and would spend the rest of our lives together.

Who eats more?
Hard to say.  I munch a lot but he eats till he is about to explode sometimes.

Who does the laundry?
I do, unless I ask him to.

Who’s better with the computer?
He is better with the technical stuff.  I have had blogs and spent more time online so I can figure my way around internet stuff.

Who drives when you are together?
He usually does.

I am going to tag Kacie

A Compliment (?)

Said to me by one of our residents as I picked her up from work. She gave me a big hug and kissed my neck.

T: You smell really good!
Me: Thank you!
T: What happened, did you take a shower or something?

She did not even know how funny that was.

Been a While

I do realise I have been horrible at updating, and I can’t say that I will get any better very soon. We’ve had our plates full. This is the third day in my suprise three-day weekend. I probably could have used that time to update, but it just didn’t feel right to spend my time online. After such a harsh winter we had a very unseasonably warm weekend.

So I am sitting in front of the fire listening to the howling winds (tornado warnings after such a sharp change in weather) and my husband whistling while he hooks up the lights in our newly refurbished, still unfinished bedroom. And I am here to tell you that we are doing ok.

We are both enjoying our jobs. Josh is still working to get the respite care program set up. He has been subjected to one crazy-short timeframe to get it all done. But it wont be done that soon and I think people are realising that. I am very proud of the great work he is putting into doing this all from scratch.

And I at the group home am experiencing the challenges and rewards with the type of work I am doing. The ladies that live there are great. I am showered with hugs and kisses and artwork everyday (and everyday!). I find myself affectionately imitating the girls, saying things like ‘everyday and everyday’ and ‘I got born in Chicago.’

We are finishing up work on our bedroom. We have changed the location of it and will later be adding a kitchen and making our half bath a full bath. Right now all of our belongings are in the living room, which is also where we are sleeping. This makes it a challenge to find clothes everyday (and everyday) as they have been put here and there, anywhere they fit, and I have recently decided that I am going to stop making attempts at cooking as everything is boxed up and it takes a half hour just to get the supplies I need. Living like this has caused a bit of stress, on top of my working overtime and Josh starting a brand new program and both of us still pretty new in our jobs. Hopefully the remodling will end soon and that part of our lives will go back to normal, making it easier to cope with stress at work. We have always made it priority to make our home our refuge from work and the rest of the world. When the home turns topsy-turvey it is harder to deal with everything else.

But we are greatful to both be working after such a challenging time since arriving back from Scotland. And we are doing ok.

Working

I am still getting used to working full-time outside of the home. And we started renovations on the house. Our bedroom and all of our possessions are crammed into our living room. Our dining table is covered with stuff. My kitchen ’stuff’ is in boxes piled on top of eachother. It is such a chore every time I want to make something. So I really haven’t been making much. I still have to do the laundry. As many of our hanging clothes that we could fit are hanging over our washing machine and dryer, which is wrapped in plastic to keep the drywall dust/sawdust from getting to our clothes. There is a film of dust everywhere. I have to sidestep boxes and chairs and clothes strewn here and there to get from one place to the other. And I am working overtime. Only about 8 hours, but this means I am working 30 hours more than I have been used to. So I feel worn. When I am on the internet I don’t feel like typing. I have been wanting to post photos from our snow storm, but I just can’t be bothered. I just want to surf. So if you need me I’m over at Facebook.

One Month Later…

I finally recieved my final pay from Chase. After battling with them for 6 weeks (when I should have recieved the larger portion of the final pay), after 4 phone calls and speaking to 6 people in HR, after phoning my manager 4 times, after getting an attorney involved, after writing a letter mentioning my attorney, after threatening to go to the Dept. of Labor, I finally recieved my final 15 hours of pay.

See, there was a glitch in their system. Since my final day was a Wednesday, rather than a Saturday, the system just couldn’t understand that I had worked my full 20 hours in 3 days. Even though I filled out a time card every week, which my manager approved, it assumed that I had only worked 5 hours in those 3 days.

Even some of the numpties I talked to in HR couldn’t understand it. One lady actually tried to tell me that I was a salaried worker and was not entitled to any ‘extra’ pay. Sorry, but I worked there nearly a year, filled out a time card every day, and always got paid for hours above my contract. Another woman just shut down and wouldn’t even let me speak with a superior. There were only 2 people who knew what they were talking about and could see right away that there were 15 hours I had not been paid for. Unfortunately there was protocal and they could do nothing about it. My manager had to call in and tell them to pay me. And when she did she would get the numpties that insisted that I had recieved my full pay, even after she TOLD them to PAY ME ALREADY! *sigh*

My last day was December 10. I should have recieved the bulk of my pay on the 15th (Chase has a weird, confusing way of doling out their pay). I needed that money THEN to pay down some credit cards (not much, but it helps a wee bit when it comes to interest). Instead I had to use my free time to make phone call after phone call, waiting, checking my account, and crying out of frustration and anger. I had to get an attorney friend involved. I had to type up a letter stating the history and sending my husband to the post office, paying to have it sent certified.

I have looked into Indiana labor law on several occassions. It is not much good for the employee in most instances, but I DO know that it is ILLEGAL to withhold from one’s final paycheck, which is what I feel Chase was doing, even though it was some silly glitch in their system. They really need to do something about that.

Hope

It has been a long journey. Sometime it felt like an eternity. But now I feel like we are starting to get out of the woods.

I didn’t want to say anything until it was official because I just thought I would jinx it or something, but last week Josh was offered a job. He went in today to sign papers and tax forms and all that fun stuff. We both have been holding our breath since last Monday when he was called. We weren’t sure if they would call back and say they made a mistake or something.

Josh will be working for the same agency I work for, but not in the same area. He will be starting a new respite care programme. It is an exciting opportunity with some possible advancement in the future. Although we will not be working together, I am happy to be working for the same company. And I may have the chance to pop into his office and say hi when I drop the girls off at work.

One challenging thing could be our schedules. We do enjoy spending as much time together as we can, but with these jobs our schedules will probably clash with mine being early mornings and afternoons into the night and his possibly being more 9-5. But we may have the flexibility to work our schedules around a bit.

I must say that after all this time it is such a huge sigh of relief. Even while he was working that nasty water loss job it didn’t really feel secure. It wasn’t a career, somewhere you could imagine yourself staying for more than, well, until you could find something worth getting up in the morning to do. And our finances were in a pretty scary situation. We are not out of the woods there yet. He doesn’t even start work until Feb 2 and they pay is still not ideal, but it is no longer frightening.

And given the economy, we are not in the type of industry that will be doing huge layoffs. In fact, it’s the kind of industry that will benefit from having a democrat in office.

Hope

It has been a long journey. Sometime it felt like an eternity. But now I feel like we are starting to get out of the woods.

I didn’t want to say anything until it was official because I just thought I would jinx it or something, but last week Josh was offered a job. He went in today to sign papers and tax forms and all that fun stuff. We both have been holding our breath since last Monday when he was called. We weren’t sure if they would call back and say they made a mistake or something.

Josh will be working for the same agency I work for, but not in the same area. He will be starting a new respite care programme. It is an exciting opportunity with some possible advancement in the future. Although we will not be working together, I am happy to be working for the same company. And I may have the chance to pop into his office and say hi when I drop the girls off at work.

One challenging thing could be our schedules. We do enjoy spending as much time together as we can, but with these jobs our schedules will probably clash with mine being early mornings and afternoons into the night and his possibly being more 9-5. But we may have the flexibility to work our schedules around a bit.

I must say that after all this time it is such a huge sigh of relief. Even while he was working that nasty water loss job it didn’t really feel secure. It wasn’t a career, somewhere you could imagine yourself staying for more than, well, until you could find something worth getting up in the morning to do. And our finances were in a pretty scary situation. We are not out of the woods there yet. He doesn’t even start work until Feb 2 and they pay is still not ideal, but it is no longer frightening.

And given the economy, we are not in the type of industry that will be doing huge layoffs. In fact, it’s the kind of industry that will benefit from having a democrat in office.

Bad Weather

I am really, really, REALLY tired of driving in bad weather. There has been so much snow this winter (and an ice storm!), and before winter was the rains! At least my work is only a 20 minute drive now rather than 45.

And I have to say I have just about had it with our elected officials who decided not to salt our roads this year and do a very minimal plowing. I think someone is looking to be elected OUT of office this year. Seriously, I drive from Valpo to Chesterton to work and I am risking my life until I reach Chesterton. It is a night and day difference. And I have to drive a big van with 6 ladies to work from Chesterton all the way down to south of Valpo. *sigh*

Idol

So I finally watched American Idol for the first time this week (we watch a lot of TV at the group home) and I have to say that Britain’s Got Talent is much more entertaining.

Something Meaningful

My employment.

For a while I was feeling like I wanted to get out of retail/for profit.  I never thought I’d want to go back into social services.  It was always ‘NO WAY!’  But this time I specifically looked through the United Way list in search of a new job.

I have finished my 7 day orientation (well, except for the one on the snow day which I will be making up this Friday) and I have been at the home for 2 weeks.  It really is something more meaningful.  I really haven’t gotten into the nitty-gritty of it yet.  I hear there are occassional ‘behaviors’ and other challenges, but I am relishing being ‘new staff’ and under the watchful care of the ladies I will actually be caring for.  I am already showered with hugs and kisses.  I share a giggle with the staff as the residents try to pronounce my name.  They’ve gotten me to play Sing Star with them, despite my shredded vocal cords from the brief cold I endured.

I smile when they tell me thank you and that I’m such a good cook after throwing together a taco salad.  I smile when they ask if they can help me put the dishes away.  I smile as the girls give me hugs after I give them their medication and they head off to bed.

I am still trying to get into a routine.  I have not worked full-time for five years so I will have to get myself back into meal-planning and planning my grocery shopping.  For now I have Josh’s help with dishes and laundry, but he will not be home during the days for too much longer (hopefully!).

But I am glad to be doing something a little more meaningful.

Snow Day!

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had a snow day. I have certainly always been expected to show up for work no matter the weather. I can’t remember if we ever had a snow day in college. Almost all of the student lived on campus so classes went on as usual. It was just a matter of whether the prof made it to class or not.

But today we have a snow day. We had an ice storm overnight and everything is frozen solid. I listened to the radio and at first we had a 2 hour delay, then later it changed to being closed.

I feel bad for our clients. Today was supposed to be the big Christmas dance. But we will still have that on Monday (weather depending).

I guess it’s nice that I don’t have to go in to work, yet I don’t get paid. It’s a bit frustrating for me because we are really dependent on my income right now and as it is I wont be getting my first paycheck until after the first of the month (after the bills come due) AND there is that issue with my finale check from Chase.

And it’s not even a FUN snow day! It ice. Just ice. No snow.

But I suppose we can expect up to 7 inches later today. And another storm in a couple of days.

All this after getting dumped on Tuesday evening.

Gotta love the Midwest in the winter.

Why does everything have to be so hard?!

I feel like when it rains it pours. Other people’s incompetencies really irritate me, especially when it makes things harder for me or creates extra steps/hoops for me. There were several things like this today, but I will just share one:
I got my last paycheck today and it was about half of what I should have been paid. AND they still took out that good chunk of change for my medical benefits (which I had ASSUMED were terminated on my last day, will have to check that out). So now I have to go and battle with someone who will probably be difficult to get ahold of  just to get my proper pay, during my first week on the new job, during orientation, my first week back to working full-time since 2003.
Ok, I will share another. This isn’t really about incompetencies, it’s just really irritating. I found out that the reason Josh didn’t get hired for one job is because he is “too educated.” (!?!) They were afraid he would not stay. Mkay. I do understand about paying for training and all, but there are some things that should be weighed. Would it be better for the agency to hire someone who is really brilliant, educated, has field related experience, could be a valuable asset to the company, will come up with great ideas, and just be an all-around great employee, yet there is SPECULATION that he/she MAY only stay one or two years (or maybe 10, but you DON’T KNOW!), or hire someone without the credentials who will do mediocre work, but will probably stick around until the end of eternity. Hmmm?
So someone who worked incredibly hard to graduate with his Master’s from a distinguished university with distinction and has several years of work experience up his sleeve gets to deliver sandwiches for a sandwich shoppe. Sound fair to me.
But maybe I’m just biased.