Squeaky Clean!

Today has been an exceptionally productive sort of day, despite the fact that I've been fighting a killer (allergy-related?) headache on and off for about 6 hours. Normally when I clean, I start with the downstairs - kitchen, dining area, living room - and then head to both bathrooms, and by the end, I'm just too tired to get to our bedroom. Not so today! Our room was where I started, and man, I cleaned it from top to bottom. It started out with laundry baskets everywhere, clothes in them AND on the floor, papers and other trash-type things strewn about, our bed was in shambles...

And now, clean, tidy bliss :) Clothes are organized by color in baskets, and I've made a rather large dent in the amount needing to be washed (although, if I could use OUR washer and dryer rather than the apartment's tiny stackable ones, I would've been done already...). Washed the sheets, remade the bed, picked up and threw away all trash, put away shoes, and vaccuumed :) Bathroom is also clean. And thanks to the hubby-extraordinaire, the kitchen is too! Tomorrow after church and lunch, I plan to break out my vaccuum again and finish that mess, and then mop. These next couple of weeks are going to be rather busy, so getting the major stuff done now will be a big help :)

After all that cleaning, I'm a bit tired. It's a quiet night tonight - cold weather always comes and makes me quiet and introspective. Fall calms me down. In the spring, I'm bursting at the seams with excitement, energy, cabin-fever from the winter season - the second the weather hits about 70 degrees, and new green blades of grass are starting to poke out from the earth, my t-shirts are on, my flip-flops are out, and I HAVE TO GET OUTSIDE. I have to GO and DO and BE EVERYTHING and life is lived and felt in ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME. I'm giddy, every time the sun comes out. It's like a big OD on Vitamin D or something, I don't know. But in the fall, all that is subdued. It's not that I'm depressed or anything - just calmer. I go slower. I tend to savor things more. I get nest-y. And now, fall has officially returned. My sweaters have come out, and a chill is hanging in the air. It makes me want to carve a pumpkin, go on a hayride, make crafty things with leaves and gourds. Mark loves this kind of weather. He said yesterday that he wanted to move somewhere where the weather is like this about 70% of the time. With the other 30 being much, much colder. I'm not too sure about that idea, but we'll see if we can't work out some sort of compromise... (I told him I'd live in a cold place if he bought me lots and lots of nice, cute, very very warm things. Like parkas. and Everest-ready garb.) But for now, I'm content with the 40's-50's, and will break out the flannel and drink hot chocolate, and use my kitty (who likes to sit in my lap while I'm trying to type on my laptop) as a blanket.

And once again, I can't reiterate enough, I am so content here. Where we are, where I am... I am so very, very glad that we moved when and where we did. And I'm so thankful that we have what we do. We're blessed, for sure :)

scrub-a-dub-dub...

Only not three men in a tub, but my house and clothes...

It's been cleaning day at the Skinners' house. I'm taking a short break before the ironing begins...

I've done laundry like a maniac today. My fall/winter clothes are now organized in my closet, and my summer stuff is almost all packed away - just the things that need to be washed are left (and things I wear year-round for layering, which won't be put away...) Getting out the next season's clothes is always a happy time for me. It's like revisiting old friends, and old memories, and it makes me look forward to what is to come.

Off the subject, but...
I just have to say - I'm so happy here. Best decision we ever made, moving here. Life is so good. I really, really miss my family, and my old unit... but this is the right place for us. I am so thankful for everything that's been happening lately :)

Lots of random thoughts tonight ...

Things That Are Good :)

-I love it when my kitty cuddles with me on the couch. She looks like she's hugging me right now.
-I have the best hubby ever :)
-I want to go to nashville right now and visit with elissa and all her friends. I miss her like crazy...
-I am currently on a huge Ingrid Michaelson kick. "You and I" is my fave...
oh let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France
let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance
let's get rich and build a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants
from way up there, you and i, you and i

love it. :)
-my sister might just be quite literally the coolest person i know. she dressed up like michael jackson for spirit week at her school. how awesome is that?
-it was fall today. I loved it, even though i only spent a total of maybe 8 minutes outside (walking into work, and out of work...) through the window, it looked gorgeous :)

Also...
I love my car. I LOVE it. We have been blessed to be able to make some excellent "investment" type purchases lately (like, not food, which gets eaten and then it's gone and doesn't last....). Like our wonderful, beautiful, uber supportive, amazing bed! And my super-awesome little zippy car :) Life is indeed good here in Birmingham.

I don't think I've talked about that enough, actually. How good of a decision it was to come here. Life is better than it has been in quite a long while - we have the same amount of money (small...), but we're so, so happy here. I really miss my unit in chattanooga, and i really miss my family ... but I'm so happy being here. It's so good. Mark's school is going really well :) He's so smart, I knew it would, but it's nice to have him doing what he likes and happy and all that jazz again. We still love where we live, we're close to friends, we've found a church, we're making connections. It's good. I'm soaking it up while I can...

And speaking of soaking while we can ... I need to go get some sleep.

almost there.

Tomorrow, I get to go home. I cannot tell you how much joy this brings to my soul.

Tonight, I am thankful. God has given me so many blessings ... so many people who love me, so many wonderful opportunities to be happy, so many things to make me smile. It's unfathomable, the love and support that I have received throughout this time of being separated from my sweet hubby. So many friends offered their beds and homes for me to stay in, so many have offered me their time and a listening ear when I want to vent/complain, so many have offered me encouragement when I felt like things were never going to work out. And now that they are working out, I have just gotten this incredible outpouring of love from people who've been praying for us, from people at work wishing me well but assuring I'll be missed. People are good. I really, really believe that. I may be the eternal optimist about this, and probably wrongly so, but I can't bring myself to believe anything but that. That people, deep down, are good. (Good not in the sense that we all aren't sinful and inherently wrong and all that jazz.... but just ... good. I think they care. And want to do the right thing. And all that.)

The News...

Well friends, I'm back from my interview...










And...












It was amazing!!! Obviously there's red tape and paper work ... but the manager said that she wanted me to work for her :)

I like the unit. It'll be different, but it'll be good.

Also, just real fast .... faith and prayer does work. Because I've been asking specifically for this job, and for a dayshift position in this job, and it was provided. He is faithful, and good.


"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ... "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." - C. S. Lewis, from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe