A Snapshot

I don't know if this picture will show up. It's not showing up right now, but I'm going to try it anyway. I needed an updated picture for my profile because my hair is much longer. Anyway, let's get to the snapshot.

What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Make huge strides on my crop weekend this weekend, by catching up with my albums
--Crop the rest of my family photos before leaving tomorrow tonight
--Catch up on laundry
--Bring lunch to my sister, Lisa tomorrow at school

What have I accomplished?
--I've cropped all of Ben and Mary's pictures and half of the family album pictures
--I've cleaned out a drawer in my dresser that, for two years, collected Mary's memorabilia (from birth, baptism, etc), portrait studio pictures and other odds and ends. I finally set aside a "special box" for Mary like all the other kids have, and her memorabilia has been properly stored in it. I separated all the portraits and stored them in each kids boxes (rubbermaid storage containers that are kept in their closets).
--I cleaned out another "temporary holding spot" full of stuff to put in the kids' special boxes (report cards, Iowa testing results, artwork).
--Survived the first two weeks of Ted being layed off. Our Living Room has become the “Command Center” for Ted. The computer Ben usually plays on has become Ted’s and has been updated with all of his business contacts and other contacts for potential job opportunities. He’s added a lamp near the desk to see better and makes all his important phone calls from there. He has a phone interview with a telecommunications company tomorrow morning at 9am. It will be an hour long. I will have to vanish with the kids to the basement so Ted can pretend he is a serious, potential employee instead of a Dad at home with his rambunctious children. He has another interview on Monday with a head hunter. Ted has impressed me with how he has been handling everything. He seems to be focused on the big task at hand, finding a job. He spends most of his mornings on the phone and sending out e-mail. In the afternoons he helps around the house. In the beginning, he seemed a little antsy, a little lost as to where to start. Now he his paths are layed and it’s like we are sending out fishing lines in all different directions. I asked Ted if this was overwhelming to one minute be talking to someone about pharmaceuticals and the next to someone about telecommunications. He said he just feels like he's trying them all and waiting to see which one sticks. Mmmmmm...interesting method.

What's bugging me?
--I feel a little weird continuing with adopting a needy family to buy presents for this year because Ted doesn’t have a job. What do you stop and what do you continue? I feel like these people are worse off than our family even considering our circumstances, therefore we should do it. I didn’t hesitate to buy for my own family (luckily most of the shopping was already finished), so why shouldn’t I buy for them? We have worked really hard not to eat out and do any other “frivolous spending” so, in all this cutting back, it feels weird to step out of that mode and buy for them. But I just listened to the Gospel this past Sunday that talked about the poor widow giving everything she had when the rich people only gave a small portion of what they had. That pretty much affirmed we were doing the right thing by keeping the commitment.

What's my latest obsession?
--Steady cropping in the evenings. It’s working! I’m getting caught up and I’ll be ready to put all the cropped pictures in the albums. We’ll see how many of them actually make it in this weekend. My goal is to catch up Ben’s, Mary’s and the Family’s albums.

What's been making me happy?
--Having Ted around is so nice. Even when he is busy working, it's just nice to have him around.
--I'm glad Ted was in sales. It seems like you can take sales experience to many different types of jobs and Ted is discovering many options. The last time he was layed off (yes...this happened before...eight years ago) we had no idea where to go because he wanted to switch fields. He interviewed for a sales job with no sales experience. I'm so glad they hired him despite this. Now he has a valuable and adaptable skill. Let's hope he can put it to use again!