Vermont!

We are in Vermont for Morgan's graduation. Today we went to Sharon, VT, to see the birth place of Joseph Smith. It was beautiful and serene. I would have enjoyed it more if Lorraine wasn't trying to tromp all of the beautiful flowers, but hey she was pretty good otherwise. It was great to get away from campus because there is no cell phone service nor is there much for Lorraine to do here.

The 12-hour Trip

We made it here!!!! It was a long couple of days but we made it here. Lorraine did quite well on the trip, we thought that she would have some major meltdowns but she didn't. Our car ran well the entire time, I was a little worried about the car because it was such a long drive that we would have trouble. Thankfully though nothing went wrong. Hopefully going back to Virginia will be the same way. We only made one stop the first day and one stop on the second day. However on the first day we happened to get off the exit where my friend, Autumn lives. We didn't plan it that way but it just happened. So we got some gas and food and thought we pay Autumn a visit. At first we didn't see any cars in the driveway so we thought that they weren't home. So we sat down on their front porch to eat. Thankfully though, Scott, walked by and saw us sitting there. We are so thankful that they let us come into their home and get out of the car for a while. Lorraine loved their two little border collie puppies as well as their swing set and trampoline.
Lorraine going down the slide for the first time.

Having fun

Happy in the car after getting to stretch her legs.

After we stopped in at Autumn's we had about another 3.5 hours to go. We stayed overnight in New Hampton, New York. Then we got up early and had another 5-6 hours to go. The drive was beautiful. Lots and lots of LUSH greenery! Thankfully, Lorraine slept most of the way. We are happy to be here.

Morgan officially graduates on Friday morning. I can't wait!

Awake again

All of this stress is keeping me awake again. I have spent the last several nights awake with thoughts of what I need to do for next week's graduation, for Morgan's conference next month in PA, what must be done before the end of the week, how I can get Lorraine to eat better....and the list goes on and on. The crappy part is that by the time I get to sleep I can only get a few hours of sleep. When I finally drag myself from my bed I am too tired to put any of those great ideas to work. So now what do I do in the middle of the night? I can't go do laundry in the middle of the night at the laundromat. I can't book Morgan's hotel room for the conference because he probably can get a better rate with his work discount. I can't clean out the car to get it ready for the 1400 mile journey. I can't pack clothes because they aren't clean. I can't go to the grocery store in the middle of the night to get Lorraine some food that I think she actually might eat.

I am rather just frustrated that this vicious circle of insomnia keeps coming back. I've dealt with it before. While I worked at Ruby Tuesday, I wouldn't get off work until usually 12am, and many times later. I would have to come home and unwind at least a little, and then try to get to bed for my 6:30am wake up call to get Morgan from work, and then class for the day. Yet I found it very hard to get to sleep at all most nights because I would obsess over what I could have done differently to get more tips. It's stupid, I know. Now, the same thing is coming back. I am obsessed about what I need to do because of the busy schedule that I have and can't get any rest and I hate being a walking zombie the next day. I can't get anything done in that state, and yet here I am awake and staring at my computer screen.

WHAT DO I DO?

Sorry, just needed to rant.....

Humbled Today

As many of you can probably tell, we are struggling a bit financially. Morgan has not had a steady job since the beginning of May. A couple of weeks ago we made an unscheduled stop to the Department of Social Services and applied for food stamps. However, the process is very long and can only be expedited in exceptional cases. Today we had our appointment to bring in all the paperwork for verification purposes. It was a very humbling experience for sure. I never thought in a million years that we would be unable to completely pay for groceries or anything else for that matter. It looks as though we qualify but aren't quite in dire need of assistance and so it will take another 2-3 weeks until we get any benefits. It is very hard for Morgan to have his Masters' Degree and not be able to provide for his family. It is also hard not being able to find anything other than part time work at fast food joints. He now works every other weekend at the Wingate Hotel at the front desk and it is the dreaded graveyard shift :( He also got a job working at Pizza Hut being a delivery driver.....but that was a week ago and the manager is very disorganized. It doesn't appear that he will be getting many hours there.

As for me, I haven't looked anywhere yet. There aren't many jobs around here that Morgan has NOT applied for, and if he can't get them is there any chance that I would? However, there is always my Mary Kay business. It hasn't been all that successful in the past but I am at least going to try to give parties again soon.

We are hopeful though. Morgan has been offered a job that will start in the middle of August. He will be developing and subsequently teaching two online courses for Trine University. He will make decent money doing that and can stay HERE in BV while I finish school. The hardest part is just waiting until the job begins.

All in all though, we really can't complain too much. We are still living in our own apartment and are caught up with all our bills. We do have a bit of credit card debt to take care of (which is mostly my fault because I wasn't willing to say no), thankfully though it isn't too bad in comparsion with others. We just can't wait until August when more money starts rolling in.

Pictures as promised

Lazy Days....Finally

Well school's out for me for the summer! I was going to go to the semester in the month of June but finances didn't allow me to do so. But I am so glad that I didn't go back for another semester right away. I've got a lot time to play with Lorraine and to spend time with Morgan. During the Maymester, I just was so busy and I never got to see either of them. I am glad to be less busy for sure.

Lorraine has gotten her first haircut this week. Morgan went in to get his haircut and I decided that it was time for Lorraine to get her hair cut. It is much cuter! It curls naturally so much better now. Pictures are to come soon.

Morgan is still out of a job and it is rather disappointing. He has applied at some job everyday for the last couple of weeks, and yet he hasn't gotten any job interviews. I don't know what else he can do. Though he is in good spirits and hopes that the Lord will bless us soon.

All in all life is pretty good.

Nothing New

It has been a while since I last posted (again). I have been trying to keep this up every week with a new post but sometimes I just don't have anything to say. Lately it has been very busy around these last couple of weeks. We are mostly adjusted to living in our new place, still trying to find some things though. We are working together each day to help make our house look decent. But really it is just a cluttered mess that is overwhelming. I conquered Lorraine's room and the living room today with lots of cleaning and yet I still feel like it isn't quite clean. We sure do miss the space we had in the kitchen of our last place but at least this is a place that we can better afford, because it is smaller and the utilities are included in the rent.

Both Morgan and I have been rehearsing for the summer musical, Seussical. The music is a lot of fun but very difficult. Thankfully we still have a few weeks before the show opens. We are also very thankful to our conductor's daughter that is helping out by taking care of Lorraine while we are at rehearsal. We both wouldn't have been able to be in the orchestra otherwise.

Morgan is still applying for "real" jobs but with the economy so bad, no one is hiring. He has only gotten one interview and no job offers out of the 20 or more places that he has applied to. I don't know what else he can do at this point to get a job. He also has been out of work here because the Census Bureau (which he was working for) ran out of work. He also got fired from his other job too. We still don't know why he was fired, the owner of the store won't talk to him and the manager of the store doesn't know what is going on. It really is rather frustrating. So Morgan is back at the hotel working the graveyard shift over the weekends.

As for me, I am taking two classes this semester which is only the month of May. I have class everyday for 2-3 hours at a time. Then I have about 2-4 hours of homework each night, plus rehearsals, cooking, cleaning, and taking some time to spend with Lorraine. I am mostly enjoying my classes. I am taking Spanish and Biology of Women. Spanish is easy and thankfully comes naturally to me. Biology however is a completely different story. I didn't do well on the first test and hopefully the test on Monday is a bit easier. As for my health, I am finally COMPLETELY off of those ridiculous drugs and have been fairly healthy ever since. I am suffering from allergies here in the beautiful (but allergy filled) VA, but besides that I am healthy.

Lorraine is just a very happy go lucky little girl. She is started to talk (babble) more and more each day. I think she gets frustrated with us at times because we can't understand her babbling. She loves to play with her big pink ball and loves to take baths or get into the shower with Mom. I don't think I've ever heard of a toddler that I actually liked to get into the tub. She just might be a swimmer or some other water sport junkie. We've been very blessed that she is such beautiful and happy little girl. I just pray that our next baby will be just as happy. (THIS IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!! You all know how comments like these get rumors started.)

Anyways, we are doing okay and life is pretty good.

Video of Lorraine

This is more for my Mom than anyone else but it is a video of Lorraine.

Fun in the Backyard

It is a beautiful day here in Virginia and I just couldn't sit inside all day and neither could Lorraine. So we grabbed the big ball and headed to our backyard. Though we didn't stay out too long(because of my apparent allergy to grass), Lorraine had a blast. She loves to play outside and it's great when it is not too hot or cold to do so. Our neighbor brought out his little dog and Lorraine was SOOO excited! It was just a lot of fun.