I know it's #tbt..but Life at Gray Gables is getting Interesting...

What if you get an unexpected phone call that you answer and the person on the other end of the line wants you to work from home, what do you do?

What if working from home is exactly what you have wanted for a long time and this opportunity is happening at just the right time in your life? 

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My life is moving at rapid speed right now and I am on the brink of losing control, with excitement that is! 

Let's have a little throwback Thursday action and head back to last Wednesday.  I am getting my kids to bed and handling some laundry detail. Its about seven at night and my phone is lying on the bed in our room, obviously on silent, as usual (bad habit!).  I take the laundry up to our room and start sorting according to what goes where, when I look down and see the little green indicator light flashing for all it's worth, trying desperately to get my attention. So, I open the cover and swipe my finger (I love you Samsung Note!) and see a missed call and a voicemail. Right to voicemail I go and enter password and hear an unfamiliar voice who is trying to get ahold of me because she saw my resume and was very impressed. 

My thoughts are, um, OK. So I call the number back and it goes to a voice mailbox and I leave a message.  Then, I go back to my laundry. 

It isn't until after nine o'clock that I get a callback, and yes, I am still doing laundry. What happens next is just crazy! I basically am in an interview. I am told about the company that is looking for an Administrative Assistant and the kicker is that this is not a freelance opportunity. I am excited. This is exactly what I have been looking for with the added perks of being a real employee, not a free agent. 

What would you do? Would you consider this position? Would you be skeptical? 

Since then, I have had three interviews and in depth details about the position and I want this job so bad! I have never been so excited and happy about a job before, but having the opportunity to work with the company and at home is a dream come true. 

I am still waiting for the final steps, but I have been told that everything is good, from the Executives that I interviewed with yesterday, and even went as far as to pack up my stuff at my current job. 

Am I crazy? I just see this as an incredible opportunity for my family! 

My Hubby is just as excited. We did our research and this company is legit and growing, which is very important. It is a smaller company, but it believes in helping its employees continue to grow with the company.  

I feel that God has put this in my path for a reason, probably my nagging prayers. I have not been quiet about the fact that my oldest starts Kindergarten this fall and I want to be there for her, drop off/pick up and room mother. I want to be an active Mom and with my current job, I am missing everything. I work early in the morning and although I get off early, it still is an awkward time and I am just missing out on her school experience, and my Hubby is running on fumes because of his odd work schedule. 

I can not explain how deep my feelings are, but this feels so right, like that feeling of being exactly where you should be? I don't know exactly how to put it into words, but I know that I can not wait to get started with my furture with this company and be a little more active in my girls lives. 

Here is the kicker! My current job let me know six months ago that I would be out of a job within a year or so and to start looking elsewhere. My Boss was very open and said that she did not know what the future was for our company, being that it is health care, and there has been a lot of activity in our building since the beginning of the week. I just feel like this was God's way of taking care of my family and I will continue to pray for this godsend that befallen upon us. 

I am just feeling truly blessed right now!

Happy Thursday All!

 

~KEL~ 

Wacky Wednesday...Let's talk Catfish...

What is being "Cat-fished" mean? 

Have you ever been? 

With the online craze that the kids now a days rely on for dating needs, how many of you really think that you are talking to the person you think you are? 

 

Image from MTV.com

 You join Match.com, hoping to find the one, not really knowing what to expect but trying to be open minded on this journey. 

--This is where I have to rely on my friends who are using the services that are out there because I got married before these were such a big hit! 

So you start checking people's profiles and send "winks" trying to show your interest. Then..you wait...and wait..

Now, I have been told that this service is not as speedy as some, but let's say you get a "wink" back from a person of interest. You are jumping up and down and start "talking" to this person through chat and message. You develop a relationship with this person. 

What if years pass. You have changed your facebook status to "in a relationship" even though the person you are in this relationship with you have never even seen in person.

OK, --hold up.. I am so old school. Does this really happen? 

Yes, yes it does!   Are you shocked? Are you amazed? 

I watch MTV's Catfish and this is exactly what is happening to tons of people around the world. 

Each season we meet up with Nev Schulman and Max Joseph as they take us on another adventure to meeting one part of the "online" couple who has decided they are ready to meet the other party after years of having this Internet relationship.   

I think that this show is so awesome because Nev himself was Catfished.  He is someone that we can all relate to, connect with and with Max, they make a great team and understand and care about what the reality could be and I can say, as an avid tuner, it usually is not the person from the pictures.

I started the T.V. series before I watched the movie of Nev, Catfish, a documentary, that he, himself put together in 2010.  The documentary is almost disturbing because Nev thinks he is having a relationship with a beautiful woman and when he goes to meet her he finds a married woman who is having relationship with multiple people via the Internet. He is heartbroken to say the least.

What can we expect from Season 3 of Catfish, the T.V. show?

If you are anything like me, amazed by this new dating experience, and you are watching Catfish on MTV, you want to know what we can expect from this season's line up of the show, right? 

{Image from MTV.com}

we are heading into season 3, starting May 7th at 10:00 p.m. on MTV and per Nev and Max we are up for a darker season then we have seen to date.  They say that the Catfish victims have gotten smarter, but so have the Catfishers. 

It has been reported that the victims seem to be less gullible this season and harder to find, but it also seems that the catfishers are getting more manipulative this season, finding people to send them money, go places, or having physical, real-world things happen through the Internet.  We also should not expect all romantic stories this season. We can expect catfishing an entire town, cyber-bullying, and even just to get people to turn against one another. 

As for how Nev feelings about Online dating, he is stated to have said, "I remain hopeful for human beings but have become more and more skeptical of Internet relationships.”

I, personally, can not wait for this next season to get underway. I think that bringing in the other aspects that happen with the use of the Internet will give the show a new light, a look into what the Internet can do both positive and negative. 

As a mother, I dread the Internet for my girls teenage years. Social media can fuel bullying and as a bullying survivor (in my high school days) I am personally not looking forward to this hateful weapon.  I hope that I can teach my girls to never judge, never make fun but instead find positive in everything and everyone. Everyone is different, they are supposed to be and we should all learn to appreciate that. 

As far as using the Internet as a dating tool, use caution. It can be a wonderful experience or a terrible, down right scary experience. I think that there are warning signs that should be looked at without the rose colored glasses on before jumping feet first.

I love the idea about real-time photos, including words that you request and in a time frame, or just using other tips to make sure that this is "real" or as "real" as it can be. 

I wish that our society was a little more honest, but people will be people and as I Love to say, 'to each their own.'

 

 

I just hope that everyone watches the Catfish Project and learns from it. You can be the nicest person in the world, think that nothing like that could ever happen to you..until it does and it leaves you heartbroken, or broke. 

Tune in on May 7th with me at 10:00pm on MTV and let's keeping learning the warning signs and bring hope back to honest people.

Happy Dating all!

~KEL~

 

 

Taking a Tuesday Personal Day! No book review.. SORRY!

Taking a Personal Day today. (Call it Spring Fever!)

Be back tomorrow!

Thanks All~~


~KEL~

Marriage Monday..How do you know if you are ready for Marriage?

How do you know if you are ready for Marriage?

Is there a secret club? How about a Manual, maybe titled something like, "How you know you are ready to tie the know?", or maybe a bubble appears over your head that says ready? 

 

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Unfortunately, none of the above exists.  Wouldn't it be great if it did though?  Marriage can be so scary, and sound so final.  It can also be so emotional and so endearing, depending on time, feelings, bonds, communication and where you are in your life. 

A friend of mine, recently disclosed some information about her Cousin.  They were just married last July, after knowing each other less than a year. They were engaged on New Year's Eve and married while expecting. They have since had the baby and the problems that started on the wedding day have increased since baby.  They had some issues with the brides parents and some control issues and now that baby is here they have argued about everything from circumcision, not allowing his mother to watch the baby while the bride/mom is at work, all the way to having the in laws stay with them in their 2 bedroom apartment when they came home from the hospital with baby for two entire weeks. (Yikes! Talk about close quarters! I did not want anyone around when I had my first!)

Now, they are not getting along at all because bride/mom lied about some student loan debt, or failed to tell spouse/cousin and she flees every weekend for her hometown with her Mom and Dad while he works.  There seem to have a lot of issues that go deeper, such as, she doesn't cook, clean, he does his own laundry, he does all the grocery shopping and gets up during the night to get baby to bring baby to her so she can breastfeed. And he works where my Hubby works, which is a ten hour shift job six days a week!.. (Are you serious right now?)

These two kids didn't live together before marriage, did not get to know one another's habits and to top off the struggles of living with someone, just one person, they introduced a baby three months after they started living together as husband and wife. (EEK!)

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I am the first person to say, "To each their own" but in this case, I look at it like this, if this were my daughters, ahh hell no, this would not be because they will cook, clean, take care of the home and know how to do housewife things (although I hope that they find relationships where they can share duties with their spouses! TIP: If you surprise your girl by doing "her" chores, you will get laid) because I believe that it is important for them to know how to do these things for when they are a mother. I also believe they should know how to change oil/tires, unlatch their car's hood and know how to work a lawn mower too! 

But, back to my thought, I would not want my girls to go blindly into a marriage.  I lived with my Hubby before we were married.  We physically purchased a home before we were married or engaged for that matter. We had been together for five years before Hubby decided to "Go to Jared's."  We experienced life before we took a leap. And guess what, after having baby, it was still hard!  I think that only thing that we have gone through that has not been a challenge was owning our own business and this grand project we like to call Gray Gables.  This project, which is still unfinished, has been anything but a challenge for us. If anything, it has really brought us together and taught us how to work together as a team and communicate. (ask anyone and they will surly say the opposite of their own relationships during remodeling!)

So, how do you know your ready?  For us, it was like we were already married.  The piece of paper and the ring just was a vow before God and our family, but we were already living like a married couple and even after the wedding, we still remained the same, in all things. 

I found a quote from ANON that is amazing:

The more you invest in a marriage, 

the more valuable it becomes.

Men who have a pierces ear are

better prepared for marriage.

They've experienced pain and

bought jewellery.  Newlyweds become

oldyweds, and oldyweds are the

reasons that families work.  A

successful marriage requires

falling in love many times, always

with the same person.  Marriages

are made in heaven.  But so are

thunder, lightening, tornadoes and 

hail.  Marriage is the alliance

of two people, one whom never

remembers birthdays and the

other who never forgets them. 

Happy marriages begin when we

marry the ones we love, and

they blossom when we love the

ones we marry.  Never go to bed

mad.  Stay up and fight.  The

secret to a good marriage is

understanding that it must be

total, it must be permanent and 

it must equal . Love never gives

up, never loses faith, is always

hopeful,  and endures through

every circumstance. Marriage is

more than finding the right 

person. It is becoming the right

person.  A heart in love hears

music even when their is silence.

I think that this is an amazing piece.  It says everything that I truly believe. As you know if you read my blog, my Marriage is no different than anyone else's.  We struggle, we have ups and downs, but at the end of the day we are on the same page and have learned, after almost thirteen years together, what works for the other and how to solve our problems instead of just letting them simmer.  I think that in the above the truest saying is Never go to bed angry.  Fight it out! You have to or else you never really solve the issue, you just bury and trust me, it will resurface.  

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For the couple I spoke of above, I think that they need to see a marriage counselor, they have deep rooted issues and they are at the point where the bride threatens child support. That is a red flag that they are doomed if they don't seek help.  How do you move on from those words.  I always lived by the rule, thanks Dad, that there is one place you don't go unless you really mean it! You don't bring up Divorce!  Now, I have faltered before, especially after having a child, it was hard. I was Mommy and getting up at night and with baby all day and that was my life. I broke more than once, dealing with baby, hormones and hubby and I know that those words were spoken, by both parties and it hurts.  It still hurts today that they were spewed in  a moment of weakness. We were able to sit down, rationally, and talk about our feelings and find a way to make it through.  Guess what, we didn't make the mistake twice. 

I have grown personally in the past year also. With baby #2, we were calmer, and our roles were defined. I think that you have to have defined roles in any relationship.  This was a hard thing for me to swallow because I wanted equality a crossed the board. (Yea, right!) It wasn't until I sat down and looked at the definition of a wife, I looked at what God intended of me as a wife, and how other wife's find peace and placement in a marriage that I understood, I comprehended and now I live my life by my idolization of those woman who are Godly and Great wife's to their husbands. I like to do-things for my Hubby because I love him.  I make his lunch everyday before he goes to work, not because I have to, or because he "expects" it, but because I know that when he has that lunch that I prepared, he will think of me. I feel good about that. This has taken me so long to find, to get to this place and in finding this, I found a happier me. Guess what, happy wife, happy life..or so they say!

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Hopefully these two kids above can find a way to make it all work. I guess the kicker is that there is rumor that bride might be preggers again. (AHH!) 

Good luck to them, good luck to you and hopefully we can all find a Happy Marriage together through God.

~KEL~

Friday FUNDAY!!!

It's a Funday Friday in our world today!

Today it was a great, FUN day! Have you ever had a day that is so great that you can not help but scream it from the tops of the roofs? 

  We got up early (after a rough night with my 2yo) and got ready, had breakfast and headed out to my Mom's, because it was an Imagination Station Day!!! We had our tickets for Titanic (the exhibit) and the girls were dying from excitement of being able to play in the Kids Korner!!

  We get to the center, grab our boarding passes for 11:30 a.m. to board the Titanic. Ok, it wasn't what I expected at all, but hey, my person lived! So did both my girls. Unfortunately, my Brother and Mom parished with the ship. 

   This was the point that my 5yo was seriously board out of her mind. It was cool to see the artifacts and so forth, but at the same time, it was not worth the $22.00 admission. 

  We then headed to the Kids Korner, where they have a Grocery Store (SuperMarket to my girls), a Doctor's Office with ambulance out front, a firetruck, tree house, little play house and burning house that goes to the fire truck.  They had a blast, which makes it worth it!

  Lunch came next, in which both girls must've been so hungry because their Mac N Cheese was the BEST! 

  We saw a few more exhibits and energy was once again starting to drain, out of the adults, so it was time to head on home. 

  It was a great day, my 2yo was exhausted by the time we made it home and was a cranky mess the rest of this afternoon, but all in all, it was a Great Day!

  I love days like this! It is great to know that we are making so many wonderful memories for my babies! And, not to mention, time with my brother, their Favorite Uncle! (ok, so what if he is the only one that they have!)

  Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

  Signing Off~~~

  ~KEL~