A Blessing In Disguise*

Blessings, blessing!

As some of you know; the day after we returned from our trip to Ohio Alex was officially informed the team he was working with was being laid off in about 2 weeks….

You would think we would go into a panic right….

Nah, that’s something I would find more appropriate to do if i saw a bug (which actually happened this week as i was sitting at my desk at work, it literally crawled within an 1/8 of an inch of my hand)! Ha But for some reason I am overly exaggerated with minute things and big picture issues I tend to over simplify?

Maybe because I spend all day at work simplifying and working through HUGE client issues ha so I don’t have the effort to put all that energy in my own? hmm, light bulb?

ANYWAY!

Never the less, in this particular situation I contribute it to being over confident with Lou because everyone was worried that I was under worried!

Well my confidence in him was proved correct, a week after finding out he would be laid off he had an interview and an offer!!

He accepted the offer and will start in 2 weeks giving him a week off to rest and work on the house… more wiring, more speakers, more cameras you know the works- as long as our basement gets finished! Ugh ok let’s not get me off on that tangent!

So he accepted the offer yesterday morning and we came home to pop some champagne and try out a new recipe Mike taught us last weekend!

A toast- we attempted a really sweet toast like 4 times but that didn’t go so well because we either interrupted eachother or started drinking before it was over so we ended with “fuck it this is so exciting”- chug!

Cheers!

We attempted to make a German dish, Veinersnitzel (sp?) where you fry pork covered with flour, egg, and bread crumbs!

Notice how far away he stood from the grease below!

We have never actually fried anything so we were scared to death of starting a grease fire!

Alex and I were literally clueless as to what we were doing, he kept resorting to google and I of course call mom and dad…  I keep telling Lou that if we keep trying one day this will be easier for us to “whip stuff up right?”

Success!

(Side note do not test it by putting a piece of un-breaded chicken in the grease… oh and if testing it, test it with flour- thanks for the tip daddy!)

That's right Lou, you just cook that right up and I will keep toasting to you and taking your picture since we are celebrating YOU, that’s fair right? :) 

We ate it on a bun like a sandwich and wala!

Dinner is served!! 

Lou was right, it was actually REALLY good and not long at all to make if you know what your doing… big IF right there!

So who knew being told two weeks ago that he would be out of work very soon would lead to something even better!?!?!?

Alex and I believe this job working with Avionics as an “Embedded Software Engineer II” (fyi) will line him up for a future job at Gulf Stream in savannah when and if we are ready down the road to make that move closer to home and the COAST!

So it certainly was a blessing in disguise and just the push he needed to move on to the  next big thing which we are so grateful for…

Our next little hurdle is go figure…”GE” Alex’s second choice of companies to work for contacted him today, Oh yes you read right, the day after he accepted an offer with the avionics company!

If only it was a day sooner- Aiyiyiyiyi!

I’m not complaining though; picking between two offers is way better than looking for a job!

Either way a big HOOORAY for Lou and I could not be happier that all those things that were always (and are still) going on in his head are finally identified as very valuable things to companies!

So anyway a big trip is in the works of being planned for the summer! For years I have wanted to go to Thailand, I wanted to go there on our honeymoon but recently we started wanting to go to Paris, Rome and Italy….

I think we should close our eyes and pick one because lets be honest I REALLY want to go to both!

Let the planning begin, ok let the  crazy psycho stalking of travel websites begin for those of you who know i go overboard!

Any ideas, tips, or suggestions for traveling to either?

Oh lastly I haven’t forgot to blog about our trip home but this was more pressing- its coming, promise!

Night!

Meeting Our Duck friends, Mushy Food & Love

I realized after coming back from St. Patty’s Day that I never published this post! So let me just say we had a great time at home this past weekend and this is a bit outdated….None the less here is a glimpse of our journey the last few weeks…

Disclaimer: I totally noticed that almost the entire blog references my incognito braces as I was looking back over what I wrote!!It’s amazing how when something is bothering, hurting or uncomfortable to you your thoughts are consumed by it 90% of the time, similar to how if something is in your mouth your tongue goes directly to it 90% of the time- Oh, what a coincidence!

It’s amazing how badly a girl who once went 10 years without meat is craving it after 2 weeks!

That’s my next goal!

Tucker and Lou have done nothing but be extra sweet to me since I had been quite a sad pup at times getting adjusted to a mouth full of metal, aching/sensitive teeth, a lisp and eating mushy food for 2 weeks!  Tucker wanted me to hold his hand while he slept the first couple nights and we all know he isn’t my cuddle bug typically so this was a stretch…I even woke up one morning with him literally on TOP of me!

Love that sweet golden boy!

As for these two… could they be any sweeter!?!?!

I don’t think I have picked up one thing, turned out one light, re-filled my own drink, the list goes on…. Sweet Lou has tried so hard to make my life as easy as possible lately!

He even learned to say, “Ok come on, it’s time for a good cry”.. which is the hardest thing in the world for him… he usually freaks and begs me not to cry! Trust me though, I took advantage of those free cries, I remember night two asking him... ok begging.. “please just take it out for like 10 minutes, my mouth needs a break!”

Looking back I told Lou I am now able to see what my role typically is to my clients from my clients point of view… he isn’t able to “solve the problem” but him just being there and appearing confident, positive and reassuring me that I will get used to it and everything will be okay can mean the world to someone who doesn’t believe it themselves at the time!

So until that time comes of “getting used to it” …more milk shakes!

Oh yeah and Margaritas are good too!

This was my first “real meal!” after a week!

I learned this night that I can swallow a rather large balled up piece of tortilla with cheeses sauce on it (yes i feel very bad all that chicken in my soup was trashed, I haven’t got that good yet, I just like the broth)… then Alex pointed out if I can swallow a piece of tortilla, surely I can swallow a pill - here we go again…. So I tried with a pea. I told myself it was just a pea, food that was yummy and it went right down… I then picked up another pea told myself it was a pill and it literally wouldn’t go down!

I know everyone says it’s mind over matter but DAMN my mind is hard headed!

The next night it was BEAUTIFUL out so I got extra brave to see what else I could “soak and swallow” so we were off to the square to continue our streak of trying new restaurants!

The first thing we smelled was Italian … my second “real meal”!

Earlier that day we started on the  garage- Ew- but it was a great distraction and at the perfect time- we had been waiting for it to warm up to tackle this mess…

Ok “mess” was an understatement!

So let’s say that was a before and here’s “During” and “After”.

Not great or organized yet but at least it’s improvement!

Oh yes, and look what I found!  think I made this for Alex when I was 16 for Valentines day, 11 years ago- wow!

Geez, even then I told him I loved him more than “cheese dip from La hacienda, tanning and shopping”- sounds pretty serious!

Then I found this…. Sweet Ana, I love it!

Ok so then i may or may not have found a bag of bread in Alex’s car when we packed up all the donations… and headed down to the lake to meet our “neighbors”….

By the time Alex found me I had them eating out my hand!

Literally!

  I showed him “all gone” and he was not so fond of that…

It’s official, spring is right around the corner!  

We got back up to the porch and had 2 very angry pups who had VERY green eyes…. they saw everything!

We’re sorry, we’re sorry!   He can’t help himself, he is too forgiving!

Until he found a stick that was longer than us and decided to chase us with it….

 

In the end mommy won, no more stick for Tuck…

  …and apologies to Mill for not saving her any bread, bless her. Hope you all had a good St. patty’s Day! Ours was festive and full of green drunk people so I’d say we celebrated as expected!

More of that to come, I have 3 cuddle bugs waiting for the lights to go out!

Happy Monday!