Black Friday

"Black Friday" is a retail term used to refer to the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year in the USA. All stores use this day to go from being in the red to being in the black, but this year, for me, "black Friday" is merely black. My husband and I have been going through a culture-induced vow of poverty lately. We moved without having jobs lined up and while we have now found jobs in our new city, we have not yet received paychecks. And definitely not enough money to justify going shopping. Normally this would not be a big deal for me, but my in-laws apparently all go shopping on Black Friday as a family. I don't want to go, but I can't abstain from the trip because it would look like I'm trying to be the black sheep or antisocial or something.

Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas shopping for the people I love, but I don't have anything to offer them this year. Nothing. For my first Christmas as a married woman, I don't even have the money to buy my husband a gift. I just don't want that fact flaunted to all of our extended relatives and friends. I don't think its any of their business. And its depressing to have all that material possibility paraded before me when I can do nothing about it, nothing to buy my parents to say thank you for all they've done for me, nothing to commemorate the memories I've made with my new family members during their short stay in the country, and nothing to give my sisters-in-law or my brother just because I can. It does me no good to worry about these things, but I'm homesick enough today without being reminded that we have no money all the time to add insult to injury.

I've finally found the fault with my in-laws.

Inspiration

I am writing today to vent about my lack of inspiration. I have a wonderful husband, good family, beautiful small town, and nothing to write about. Everything seems to lack that quality that makes me want to write about it. Everything, that is, except for the things that are most controversial. I can't seem to get away from them.

All week my husband and I have been talking about what we see happening in our spiritual life as a couple. We, rather suddenly, both feel that we should be doing more to give God our best and trust that He'll take care of the details. It's kind of strange for us to feel this way because we both come from very religious families that we've kind of put on the backburner for a while in order to figure out whether or not we actually believe what we were brought up to believe. We do. And now we have to act on that belief; easier said than done. This morning in church that is exactly what our preacher talked about. This has happened to us more than once; a question that we have been mulling over all week will be the subject of the sermon. We don't know our pastor and have never even had a real conversation with the man. He has no idea who we are and yet he keeps addressing the very same issues that we want to talk about. Must be a God thing. It's odd for me to say that the only way I have come to this very point in my life is through God's mercy and timing, but that's the truth. My wonderful life is all a result of that plan, that pesky plan that my parents kept talking about when I was younger that I didn't want to believe in. I guess they were right after all...

Towels

This week I have been inspired to rearrange furniture, clean out the unwanted, and generally make my house a place of peace and a getaway from the outside world, complete with music all the time and candles to promote the feeling of a spa when I need to relax. While cleaning my upstairs I have discovered that I own something like 25 full sized bath towels. This wouldn't be a problem except that I don't need all of them, and I definitely don't have anywhere to store most of them (Our apartment only has one linen closet, and it's fairly small.) I'm probably going to end up throwing most of them away because there is no reason for me to keep the towels that are old and dingy, and I would feel guilty giving them to anyone. Maybe that's not very green, but I have no other way out of my house being overrun with towels. It's really sad. And frustrating. Of all the things to have too much of, why towels?!? Oh well.

Eating In

My husband and I have recently decided to eat healthier. We had been living on a college diet of junk food and fast food, which is not helping either one of us... not to mention that it's expensive to eat out all the time. So today we ate in all day. We had breakfast using our fancy china, and we used more fancy china for supper, along with setting the table complete with salad bowls and crystal iced tea glasses. You know what? Eating in isn't so bad when you do those things. It makes the meal feel intimate and a little bit special, kind of like a date where I would cook for my then fiance. I like that we have the ability to spoil ourselves by eating in. And oh yeah, it's healthier and cheaper than eating out all the time. We even have more time to spend together because we don't have to deal with waiters or television anymore.

Did I mention that we also turned off our cable and put the television in the guest room where we can't see it from the couch? This means we actually have to hang out with each other. Shocking, I know. We have listened to a lot more music, which I prefer to watching TV anyway, and played games. In addition, we can go upstairs and watch a movie if we want, but we are no longer slaves to the TV. It's peaceful. Everyone should do this. :-)

First Big Fight

Dishes left in the sink
Drawers open with nothing in them
Clean laundry still in bags
Dirty laundry on the floor

Boredom while he's at work
Loneliness

Going out
Explosion!


Calm sea

Una entrevista

Manana tengo una entrevista con una jefe de interpretes. Tomorrow I have a final interview with a firm that interprets for doctor's offices and physical therapy sessions. I'm really hoping it goes well. I'm really excited about this kind of job. Teaching Spanish is definitely not for me, so this is kind of the alternative. Not only is it the alternative, it's the kind of job that I've wanted for a looooong time. Hopefully. Cross your fingers.

Real Jobs

The last real job that I had was a total bust. I hated every minute of it. Teaching is just not for me... which begs the question "What am I going to do with a degree in Spanish literature?!?" Today I may have interviewed for my perfect job, and it happened by accident (or by design depending on your perspective).

I was visiting my mom for lunch when a friend of hers called and mentioned that she was talking to an interpreter who does the hiring for her company, which does interpreting in workers compensation cases from English to Spanish. Would I be interested? Of course I'm interested. I would love to do this kind of work. This is what I was hoping to do in the first place when I got my degree. The woman was available for an interview this afternoon, so I had an impromptu interview with her, which went really well. I have no idea what the pay is like, but it can't be that bad since interpreters are necessary to worker's comp cases where the person doesn't speak English. All of you out there in cyber world, cross your fingers for me!