Happy Thanksgiving to all of my bloggy friends! From the "R" Family to yours, we pray you had a wonderful (and happily goofy) day.

Rainy Wednesday

The kids are out of school. You'd think they could spend one day together without fighting. Alas, that is what I get for thinking. They've been arguing since 10am. And I'm trying to work throughout the entire whiny episode. Normally, a rainy day at home thrills me to no end. Unfortunately, I couldn't kick them outside to play because I'm not interested in having three kids with pneumonia next week. So inside they stayed, nitpicking and harassing each other. Yeah, it's been a fun day. *rolls eyes*

We have a mellow sort of Thanksgiving planned. Going to my parent's house around noon. The only thing I have to make is pumpkin pies and green bean casserole. Mr. R's parents do not "do" Thanksgiving. They go to Golden Corral for the buffet and stiff the waitress. Mr. R's sister is making her own Thanksgiving, but I haven't been invited...nice, right?

I know I did a Trucker's Wives List a few days ago, but now I'd like to do a top 10 Thankful List:

10) I'm thankful for a job that allows me to work from home. I do love being home when they get in from school.

9) I'm thankful for my church. It took me a long time to find a place where I wouldn't be rejected due to Bucket's autism.

8) I'm thankful for our general health. I know that's an easy one to jump to, but no one has been sick yet all year, except for some sniffles.

7) I'm thankful that I'm able to attend college online. Without Herzing, I wouldn't be able to finish my degree.

6) I'm thankful for my family, friends, church family. I have lots of people to love, and people who love me.

5) I'm thankful for my husband's job, even though I've been grumbling about it lately. I know many daddies who wish they had to work too much.

4) I'm thankful for music, especially Christmas music. I have a difficult time getting into the holiday spirit when it's 85 degrees outside, and wintry music just makes my day!

3) I'm grateful that I'm nearly done Christmas shopping for the kids already.

2) I'm thankful for a strong marriage.

1) I'm thankful for Jesus, who died on a cross for me over 2000 years ago.

Ten Signs You're Married to a Trucker

10) Your grass is a foot higher than anyone else's on your street.
9) Your cell phone bill is as much as your car payment.
8) Everyone at church thinks you're a single mom.
7) Your box of tax deductible receipts weighs as much as one of your children at birth.
6) You bristle when you hear someone make a comment about bad truck drivers.
5) He thinks your baked chicken, mashed potatoes and peas dinner is gourmet.
4) He gives up sleep to go a) camping b) fishing c) mall shopping with the kids, because he's already missed so much.
3) You've learned to pray on the spot for his safety when you realize he is driving nearby hurricanes, tornadoes, snow storms, floods and presidential elections.
2) You've learned to change a flat, cut down your own Christmas tree, fix a leaky faucet and bait a hook, because it just can't wait until he comes home (except the lawn, I just don't care. Haha!).
1) You could be wearing old yoga pants, a tank top, no make up, glasses on, hair up in a bun, and he thinks you're hot stuff. Don't correct him! YOU ARE.

Changing My Ways

I don't know who this lovely lady is, but isn't she gorgeous? I picked up her image from www.ehow.com, on how to dress a curvy figure. First of all, you guys all know I'm a sucker for red. But look at her confidence! Look at her pose. She is not apologizing for who she is. She is fabulous!

Slowly, but surely, I am doing this for myself. I am almost entirely all dresses and skirts now. My two pairs of Lane Bryant slacks are lonely and perhaps dusty in my closet. (note to self...dust this weekend.) At first, it felt odd, because I was never much of a girly girl growing up. But now, it comes naturally, after a few months of me working on it. I own...gasp...7 knee length dresses, and one maxi-length (that's the floor length dresses.) I have about five skirts. I'd have four more if I'd ever pull my sewing machine out and fix the ones that are ripped. Everyone around me has noticed the change. My children's friends smile and say I look pretty. I'm generally asked "why are you so dressed up?" Someone even asked me if I was a Mormon!
I don't take my picture regularly, not because I'm scared of the camera, but because it doesn't occur to me. I think I might start posting my picture on here, maybe not daily, but a few times a week. I'm enjoying my new found feminity, just as God created me to be.

Pray for Him

Guys, I rarely come on here to ask for prayer, but I need to, today. Mr. R HATES this new job. Turns out the guy who recruited him lied about his hours, and we just found out that Mr. R has to work every single day in December. Not one day off. 31 days straight. No Christmas, no Christmas Eve, no seeing Tiger play the saxophone at church, no house decorating, no tree trimming, no present shopping. For 31 days, the man will eat, drive, eat, drive, eat and drive. And maybe sleep. He is devastated, as the reason for coming off the road was to see us, his family. Now his plans have been snatched away by an unscrupulous person. I literally cannot remember the last time he has been so depressed and despondent.

The saving grace is, he is going to make a ton of money, and we plan to pay off our last two credit cards, my laptop, and get a new washer and dryer (they are both over 12 years old.) He is going to stick with it until January, and after that, we are going to discuss our options. He may go back to over the road (sigh.) We have another option that I'm not willing to talk about yet, but whatever he chooses, I plan to support him. He's a good man, a hard worker, a caring father. I know whatever he chooses, will be beneficial to our family.

Mother of the Year

So Missy just texted me from school:

"Mommy my neck hurts every time I move my head."

My response:

"Stop moving ur head."

WIN.


I can't help but add a baby picture. She was so stinkin cute. That picture is of her on her first birthday. I took off her shirt, I knew she was about to get down with some serious cake.

First Night

Tonight is Mr. R's first night at his new job. Seems ok so far. He called me to say that it seemed very basic, just annoying fighting Orlando traffic even this late in the day. Well, it's not NYC, hahaha.

I haven't had much to say on here lately. I am loving the class I am taking right now, Basic Procedure Coding. I have an A and it's coming very easily to me...maybe because I've already been doing this for the past 8 years for a living!

We picked a ton of oranges from the neighborhood tree (the abandoned house next door. If we don't pick them, they're just going to go bad!) My friend Renee took half of them, and I am inspired to make some dry zest to keep on hand, and some sweet orange bread to keep in the freezer. I also have a juicer, and want to learn how to make citrus sauce for chicken and pork.

I also did my first event as a coordinator for the 2x2 program at the autism walk last weekend. I was only supposed to be shadowing and learning how to speak to stranger, but our booth was so insanely busy, that I just jumped in and started talking to people. It was so easy, we had our faith and the autism in common. Total strangers cried on my shoulder as they told me stories of their little ones being asked to leave church. You could see the exhaustion on the face of many of the moms. I say MOMS because I saw very few dads...the divorce rate, from what I understand, is 83% for parents of autistic children. And that was when I checked a few years ago. I know a few dedicated daddies, but I mostly know moms who do it all on their own. As much as I like school and my job (sometimes) I felt so alive during this event. I was shocked when the four hours were over. My feet were killing me (note to self, don't ever wear a dress and sandals to an event. ow ow ow ow ow ow). I don't know if this ministry is my calling, but I did have a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again!

I Can Finally Share Our News...

This has been about a month in the making, but I can finally tell my bloggy friends:

MR. R FINALLY FOUND A LOCAL JOB!!!

I kept it to myself for the longest time, in case it didn't work out. I was very skeptical. On the Monday we returned from Charlotte, we looked in our local paper for jobs. And there was nothing. I mean, the only driving jobs open were for Dominos, which isn't exactly what he's looking for. So that Monday, we decided to stop looking. Just be grateful for what we have, because so many don't even have what we do.

Tiger has saxophone lessons on Tuesdays. We were still pretty worn out from the drive from Charlotte to Florida, and Mr. R wanted to cancel it, but we would have had to pay Doug the music teacher anyway, so I insisted that Mr. R take him. And while there, Mr. R saw the owner of the music store talking to another customer and pointing at him. Mr. R, being the nosy booger that he is, decided to walk up and introduce himself and find out why they were talking about him. Turns out the other customer is a guy named Aaron, who is a supervisor for the USPS transportation department. He just had to let some other guy go, and was looking for another driver. The owner of the store, Mac, sees Mr. R pull up for Tiger's lesson and says, "Hey, that guy is a truck driver." And seriously, folks, that is how Mr. R got his new job. I couldn't make this up if I tried.

After praying, talking, discussing, weighing pros and cons, he decided to go for it. He already took the drug test, submitted all the government paperwork, got his security badge, and passed the driving test. Mr. R is in Nebraska right now, doing his last run. As of Monday, he will be local, and we will see him EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Now, this is not all pots of gold and fluffy kittens. The hours stink. He only has one day off per week, which is Monday. He is working nights. We still won't see him for dinner, he still won't get to go to church. But this is a foot in the door, and as other routes open up, he could move around. He was nervous about quitting his current job, as he'd been there for five years, but they were incredibly supportive and wished him the very best. No drama, no screaming, and they gave him a good run for his last time so we can have money to live on before he gets his first check from the USPS.

I have moments when I can't believe this is happening. Then I chide myself and say, "Of course this is happening, Sarah! As soon as you got your butt out of the way, God was able to move people in the right places, at the right time!" After all, had Mr. R not taken Tiger that day. If we hadn't taken his resume off-line. If we hadn't decided to be grateful for what we already had...maybe none of this would have happened. So all I can do is smile, be thankful, and praise Him for mountains moved.

Charlotte, Sweet Charlotte

These are not fabulous pictures. Honestly, we spent only two and a half days in Charlotte. I think we spent more time in the car than we did at my dad's. I didn't get even one picture of him with the kids! Anyway, here are the same ol people you're used to looking at. Here's Mr. R. Now, about that hair.
When we were dating back in high school, he had long hair. Oooh, I'll find a picture and stick it in here. When he was 17, in the late 80s and early 90s, it rocked. He worked it. He was hot and I totally appreciated it.
Ummm, he's in his late 30s now. I have tried, so nicely, to tell him that the hair is making him look over 40. It's gray, it's frizzy, and it reminds me of Albert Einstein. I've point blank told him I like his hair shorter, and he straight up told me he wants his hair long again. It's his hair...but ugh. I don't like it.

You may have to click on it to see. I'm 14 in that picture, and he is 17. This is about a few weeks after we started dating.





I think this is the only picture of me during the entire trip. My eyes are closed and I'm behind a fake flower arrangement on the table. Hmmmm.


Missy on my laptop, even though she's not supposed to be!


And the boys, in my brother's room, playing video games. I'm 17 years older than my brother, and so he is honestly just another kid to me. He could be MY kid, although that's sorta creepy.