6 weeks in

February 21, 2012 Cathi Chandler

Thursdays must be my “Off ” Days.

because, I swear it’s when I break down the most. Hopefully now that I notice that, I can try to Woosah my way out of the madness. I have been loving my new job, but the pangs of change have been stabbing quite a bit this week. Our accountant has been out of the office for the week (because her son got home from Afghanistan, so I can’t be upset about that), so all of my paperwork has been behind from lacking checks and notarization (is that a word? oh well, it is now.) I don’t like to be behind on stuff at all! Seeing all of the files, unfinished, has been stressing me out. That’s my work stress. …at home, Idan has been throwing major temper tantrums every time I leave for work. His death grip on my leg is heartbreaking and leg-breaking at the same time. I want to just sit there and love on him until he feels okay with me leaving, but then he’ll never feel okay with me leaving. I didn’t think it would be this hard. I always call and talk to him on the phone once I’m a few minutes down the road, and he always calms down by then…but it’s just the leaving him part that is so tough. Another stress that I ran into was the fact that I work with a lot of men. These men are wonderful people, mostly married, who know or at least know of my husband and respect him, but I realized that there are going to be requirements to be one-on-one with these people often, and I’m stressing about how that would look from the outside.

Just a little moment for me to say that NO MAN could ever hold a candle to my husband! He’s raised the bar so high that absolutely no one can even possibly see it! I absolutely believe, with my whole heart, that I have the best husband who has ever existed. I truly believe that. Please, don’t try to contest. Just nod, smile, and agree with me. 🙂

Anyway, this has caused a little friction, not much, just a tad…mostly with my own heart. I am so afraid of perception, and I know that I need to work on that a little, but in this case I think I should be afraid of it. So, the blinds in my office stay open and so does the door. If you ever come to visit, the only time the blinds are closed is because I’m Woosah-ing through a little yoga session, and I don’t want anyone creeping on me while I’m in the lotus posish. And the only time the door is closed is when the “buy-buy-buy-buy-now-now-now-now” music is getting into my psyche and I need a moment…or if I’m eating lunch and we’re packed with customers (can’t let them know that I eat)…or when Diana (the whole reason I have the job) is inside listening to me cry and allowing me to de-stress on her.

The other stress is the whole tax thing! I’m trying so hard to make sure that I pay our “Nannies” the legal way, and I’ve been running into confusion non-stop! No wonder people hate the IRS! It’s so dang confusing! It takes forever to do bookkeeping on it all, to prepare the checks and stubs….sigh….I’m no Super Woman, afterall folks.

So…my activities for this week: Valentines for some single ladies, V-day Dinner, a surprise chili for dinner, and a couple of heart-to-hearts with my boys

valentines

20120212_153225 — take a pic like this

: and this

20120213_224900 — a little color change on photo shop and hot glue a kiss in their hands! Done!

So, Kiley suggested that I make valentines for a single lady, so here they are! I actually ended up making a ton of them for the boys to hand out at cub scouts, for me to hand out at work, and then to give to the Campaigners girls. It was sweet to see everyone’s reactions to them. These are super easy to do! All you need are cute kids, photoshop skills, a glue gun, and candy (wrapped in foil, not plastic…the glue gun will melt the plastic).

Surprise in the Chili

20120213_215041 — Once upon a time, a pot of chili...

20120214_184218 — and then pink rice joined the party

20120214_184457 — It was a joyous pink and red chili gathering at Campaigners until...

A special thanks to Jason and Krisi for the delicious deer meat! They loved it down at the bike shop, and my kids gave it 2 thumbs up!

20120217_202541 — IHOP Date #4

: he learns from his brother 🙂

such a gentleman!

20120214_194304 — They still love me though 🙂

20120214_194347 — My fill-in Valentine 🙂

We had our 4th IHOP date, and the boys are really starting to feel home there now. We actually stood by the kitchen this time and watched them cook our food. They loved doing that! I’m so ready for all of this cold weather to disappear, because it’s hard to stick to the IHOP plans when it’s so cold outside, but so warm and cozy in the house. Does IHOP deliver? While I google that, why don’t you box up some of your crazy and send it over since I’m GOING THERE ANYWAY!!! Until next time…Deer-Chow!

5 Weeks cont… (Cub Scout Banquet, and I lost some Wisdom)

February 20, 2012 Cathi Chandler

The Cub Scout Banquet

20120206_183212 — Idan helped set up

20120206_193424 — Chowing down on some spaghetti

20120206_193416 — "More Salad, please!"

20120206_201122 — Cole won this in a raffle!

20120206_201946 — Awards time!

20120206_202050 — He worked so hard on these awards!

Time to get rid of some painful wisdom…teeth, that is. It’s been a long 2 years of soreness and headaches, and I finally threw in the towel. The big reason that pushed me to do it was because there was a re-call on my headache medicine, and I’ve been out of it for a couple of weeks. So, I did it…my 10th surgery! Have a look at the definition of Sexy, folks:

So, I still had to do the mom thing and be at work the next morning, so I tried putting a belt on around my head to attach a bag of peas to my face….and that didn’t work so well. It kept slipping, so I tried something a little more conventional for holding up saggy things, and guess what! Totally worked. Somebody Pin THAT! Ha!

BTW, I figured out why the pictures were having problems posting on here…it’s because wordpress wanted me to upgrade my space per post. I’m a genius, I’m pretty sure of it. Now, I should be pretty quick at getting this up on post-days. I’m thinking of changing my post days to Sunday though. I’ll always include any Thursday madness that might occur though, don’t worry. Before you head off, check out my new office!!!

20120208_144011 — the "love" is from my mother-in-law, and the "quiet moments" one is from my mom

20120208_144002 — my Baby Daddy and me

20120209_143244 — The new Finance Manager at Cycle Nation!

Until next time (probably tomorrow for the 6 week update from last week), send your crazy to me, since I’m going there anyway!

5 weeks, YL Camp…and the other half to be continued in a separate post

February 20, 2012 Cathi Chandler

Since my updates are so backed up, How about a bullet note update for the 5th week, shall we? Here goes:

YL weekend Camp at Sharptop was amazing! Our cabin was at the bottom of the mountain, so we had the pleasure of walking up and down the mountain every day, several times a day…it didn’t make me feel so guilty about having 2 or 6 extra sausage links at breakfast.

Amber and Hannah on the bus ride up

Lindsay (a fellow YL leader), Savannah, and me about to ride the giant swing!

Rebecca and Kenzie

20120204_173538 — Sunday morning re-fuel

20120205_090947 — "Jesus just clicked with me this weekend" --this whole group left changed 🙂 PTL!

: all of a sudden I feel like I have to pee.

: My little sister from another Mister.

: “Cathi made me do it.”

So it was a great time! Lots of laughs, lots of tears, lots of Jesus. It’s so awesome to spend a weekend with other leaders who have the same passions about sharing Jesus with high schoolers.

My favorite part of the whole weekend is inside of the leader lounge, which I wish I had a picture of, when all of us are praying over our high school friends together before breakfast…such an amazing feeling. I imagine God looking down on his kids, so happy that the older ones are looking after the younger ones, trying to guide them gently as His Son, Jesus, showed us to. What a privilege it is to serve alongside these other amazing leaders! The only thing missing from the weekend was my husband, though he was absolutely honored in the process, thanks to Steve:

YL Rockdale salutes SSG Chandler

4 weeks down and a Lesson in Tithing

February 15, 2012 Cathi Chandler

So, a lot has happened this week. I didn’t expect any of it at all. It all began with another meeting after church on Sunday. This time it was just the members, no elders or Pastors allowed. We wanted to come together as a church body and figure what we could do without causing them to stress anymore. We basically all came to the conclusion that we need to reach out to newcomers on a more personal basis, reach out to the community around us by showing them who Jesus is, and committing to tithing 10% of our income. The economy’s been rough, gas prices are high, and we’re supporting our family in one place and my husband in another, so our 10% has become more like 1%. After the meeting Chandler and I talked on the phone for a few hours, discussing a financial plan that included our 10% tithe as the number one block in our budget spreadsheet. It was painful to look at the amount left over for groceries and gas….painful. But, we knew that God would take care of us. We had faith that He would bless our offering somehow.

Monday came and went, and nothing. Tuesday evening, I received a phone call with a job offer totally out of the blue. Initially, I just knew that working outside of the home full time wouldn’t work out for me with the kids and Chandler being gone, but things just fell into place so perfectly! Our friend, that we’ve met through the bike shop that we hang out and shop at, called me and offered me a job managing their financial department. He said I could have a back-up person there too, so I don’t have to work crazy hours. That same night, the Walker girls (who go to our church) came over for Bible study. On Sunday, these girls offered to babysit for free so we could save our babysitting money and give it to the church instead…what a shining example of selfless love!!! You don’t see that in teenage girls very often! Well, God blessed them through my blessing of a new job. The hours were perfect, the Babysitters were perfect, and the shop is a place that my husband loves. He fully supports me being there, and is just as excited as I am to get this journey started! The blessings didn’t end there though. Jason, my boss, said I could basically do my own pseudo-interview of anyone I might have in mind to work with me. So, it didn’t talk long for me to think of Rachel. She was a teen at our old church who graduated and is in college right now. She was an awesome babysitter and has so much more brain capability than what she’s being challenged to use right now. Her family could also use the extra income, so it was so exciting to invite her on-board this adventure with me! The only thing I asked of these 3 girls who are joining me on this ride is that they tithe 10% right away. I hope that they answer that call so that they can bless someone else and bring glory to God for blessing them..

So, we had our biweekly IHOP dinner on Thursday! We were able to video chat with Chandler on my phone until the food came. The boys got all rowdy from that, and they were crazy kids all through dinner! You win some, you lose some, I guess.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Nana and Papa for sending in IHOP gift cards for our dinner dates! It was so thoughtful and so sweet and definitely helpful! 🙂

((pics tomorrow night, since this photo thing has whooped my butt! I think I have to do it from the desktop computer…means I can’t post my updates from the bed anymore…Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhh))

So, this week I tried a pin, and it FAILED MISERABLY! DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME TRYING THIS!!!

20120131_090331 — 1) cut off the end opposite the stem

20120131_090432 — 2) carefully spoon out the inside, leaving the middle stem-ish part

20120131_091127 — This is the middle part that you leave.

5) pour a little olive oil around the bottom ( not over the middle part)

20120131_091544 — 4) light the center stem part

20120131_091529 — 5) but guess what...it doesn't work.

20120202_154827 — 6) so stick a tea candle in it and call it a day!

I know this update is late, but I went to camp with Young Life, and was so busy with the whole new job thing that I didn’t get a chance to post last week. Then, this site was giving me problems with loading pictures…so here it is now. I have my update from last week ready too…just gotta get the pictures working…Then, on Saturday, I’ll post my update from THIS week!!! It’ll be 3 posts in one week! Yes, Santa finally got your letter. All my fans out there are getting spoiled Oprah style. “YOU get a post, and YOU get a post, and YOU get a post!” ah ha ha ha ha….Good times.

Until tomorrow (<- see what I did there? switched it up, because I’m being clever), send your crazy to me since I’m going there anyway!