Power of Positive Thinking

Today someone decided it was time for a big change in my life. I blame my new VP at IFSA (who I despise to begin with). But I’d like to think it’s the Big Guy upstairs giving me a shove in the right direction. I lost my job this afternoon. And although I’d like to blame a lot of people (okay, just one person really), I’m trying to think positive. I keep telling myself that this happened for a reason and that something really great will come from this. I tell myself that maybe this was the push I needed to try something new, like freelance writing, which I’ve just very recently tried to break into. Hmm… now that I think about it, maybe deep down I knew (or Big Guy knew) that this was going to happen and that’s why I’ve already started preparing for this freelance thing. Strange how things work like that.

I digress. I’ll be honest, I’m scared. I’m worried sick. I have an off-the-richter-scale headache that I don’t foresee going away anytime soon. I’m stressed. I’m angry. I’m upset. I feel…….lost. The good thing is I have these guys to get me through.


And I’m lucky to have such supportive friends and family to help me. So, yeah, I’m feeling really shitty (pardon my French, Gigi) about all this. But all in all, I’m a lucky girl in so many ways. And I know that that will give me the strength I need to pull through this and turn it into a very positive change in my life.

Team Stelsel

We just had a fabulous weekend. The weather wasn’t great (it was cold and snowing…again), so it was a great opportunity for some family time in the confines of our house. Friday night we ventured out for dinner at Logan’s because I had to have a margarita for my sister.

Jen, this raspberry margarita was for you! :)


Then we went to Border’s to load up on books. Like we even need more books! Jeez.

It snowed all day Saturday, so we spent the afternoon reading by the fire. It doesn’t get much better than that. David even rearranged the furniture so we could all be close to the fire. He’s so good to us. I finished up the third book of the Golden Compass series and David read some kind of nerdy book about the economy.






Sunday was a little less low key. We had to team up to conquer the bathroom and kitchen, which needed some major attention from Mr. Clean and company. Chase supervised; he’s so good at that.



And now for some puppy pictures......just cuz he's so darn cute.

Weary from the Weekend

What a crazy weekend! Grandma and Grandpa Stelsel came to visit! On top of that, we celebrated Valentine’s Day, Daddy’s birthday, and I got to visit my friends Grady and Ella. The fun never stopped, but now I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go back to bed now (Mommy gets mad when I use the computer without supervision anyway). But check out these pictures from the weekend!

Mommy and Daddy had to dogsit while their friends Lindsay and Russell were on vacation. Grady wanted to play, but I just wanted his toys.


Daddy tried to get all three of us to sit still for 2 seconds so Mommy can take a picture.


So many good smells! I look like such a fatty next to those two!


Family picture on Valentine's Day!


Grandpa Dave plays with Hedgy and me.


I love my Uncle Kirk! He lets me lick his ears.


Daddy shows off one of his birthday presents. He sure looks excited about that sweater.


Uncle Kirk opens his half-birthday present while Laura and Steve watch. I'm down there in the corner watching, too.


I help Grandpa Dave open his Valentine's Day gift.


See how good I am at helping?

Mommy reads her Valentine's Day card from Grandma and Grandpa.

Daddy is so happy about his birthday blueberry pie. Laura, Kirk, and Steve want a piece!

Worst Valentine's Day Ever

Yesterday was a really. bad. day. From start to finish things just didn’t go my way. I kept getting bad news about different things, work sucked (as always), and I just felt on the verge of tears the entire day. Normally this wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but yesterday was our Valentine’s Day (Dave and Connie are coming for the weekend, so we moved up the holiday for celebration purposes), and there’s nothing worse than when bad things happen on what should be a happy day. I was so looking forward to having a nice dinner with David so I could put my crappy day behind me. And we did have an excellent dinner at Bravo (one of our favorite Italian restaurants), the highlight of my day. And I got a lovely card from my husband and, to my surprise, from my pup that put a smile on my face.

When we got home around 8 p.m., however, the rest of my bad day awaited. We had to work on my car because it was making strange sounds and emitting burning smells on my way home from work. So David and I spent the rest of the night on the phone with Dave to see if we could diagnose the problem. David made a run to the auto parts shop to get some oil because somehow my tank was bone dry (which means I either have a leak or Firestone ripped me off when they changed my oil). After my car quenched its thirst, we took her for a test drive. She did okay until we hit some water (we had major flooding yesterday), at which point she started squealing and the power steering went out. Ugh. So now I’m carless for a while. David is acting as my chauffeur until I can get it fixed this weekend.

And now for a mushy V-Day side note:During dinner David made an interesting observation. We were finishing our drinks when he looked at our napkins on the table and said, “Huh. You know a lot of people think we’re really similar because we get along so well, but we really aren’t. Just look at our napkins.” Now, David says some weird things sometimes, but this time he was right on target. It’s so true! My napkin was neatly folded with my hand resting on top, just how I like my life: tidy, orderly, laid out clearly with the dirty side down, and with me in control. David, however, had his napkin crumpled in his hand, which is just like him: he grabs the bull by the horns, things aren’t so orderly in his world, and he isn’t bothered by the messy things in life. And that pretty much sums up why we work as a couple: we’re almost perfect complements of each other. I’ll never understand it. Ahhh....the magic of love.