I Have A Job Interview!!!

To some it may seem to be a surprise that I am really bummed about the current job that I have. I have been with Dr. Benjamin's for nearly 3 years, mostly as the main full-time technician (though that might not be true--he never officially gave anyone a title).

So, I have been getting my name out into the business world in hopes to have a change. Not just a change in jobs, but a change in careers. If we have the potential of moving up north, I think it would be a good idea to have flexibility, just in case I need to get a job but veterinary assistance is not needed.

I know that I have no experience outside of retail and veterinary technician, so it will be hard to convince companies to give me a chance. But I am determined to see what I can do, and not lose hope.

And it starts today! I have an interview with Archon, the company that Brenda works for, and that Cary used to work for before moving to Avelo. I know that it will be hard for them to hire on yet another McFadden, but I am hopeful nonetheless.

**Update: the interview was at 8:30, and I met Karen Pettie with AP and had a phone conference with David Stone. The interview lasted over an hour, including filling out an application, take a Zero Risk test, as well as a drug screening. I am one of 2 applicants!

Happy Christmas 2007!

This morning we woke up around 8:00, with Cary feeling worse than he did yesterday and started out the day with homemade waffles (the Christenson's recipe), which ended up being really messy, since neither one of us have ever used a waffle maker before. But to me, they were yummy!

Cary and I opened our gifts to each other. I gave to Cary a couple of shirts from L.L. Bean, one being a sweater and the other being a warm shirt. I also got him a pair of ice skates, which I was so excited to give him. We have been ice skating a couple of times before, and now it was time for him to upgrade from rental skates to his very own.

From Cary I received Gilmore Girls, Season 1, and Apples to Apples, which I had been told from Dr. B that it was a great game. I couldn't wait to test it out!

After opening our gifts, we got ready and went to Gary and Brenda's house to celebrate Christmas with them. We enjoyed lunch together, along with delicious Buttermilk and Chocolate pies (I love me some Chocolate pie--tastes just like what Aunt Ann used to make!!!)

Then it was time to open gifts. Cary is so child-like (in a good way) when it comes to gift time. He gets all excited and bounces around, waiting (im)patiently for his turn to open gifts. He cracks me up!

I received from Gary and Brenda a couple of really cute shirts with complimenting camisoles, as well as a gift card to go shopping at the Limited--my favorite store!!! We also received some additional towels for our bathroom (we registered for both blue and yellow for our wedding, but only received blue--they got us the yellow). Thank you guys! What wonderful gifts!!

After lunch we went over pictures with them, talking about the honeymoon and the funny stories that we had with it, and then played a game or two. Cary and I left at 6:00 that evening, taking home a lot of gifts and food to last us for a long time!

Christmas Eve 2007

Today is the day Cary and I visit my parents for Christmas. We head over early, as we needed to start the brisket and catch up on laundry.

Once we get everything sorted at my parents, we sit down to enjoy A Christmas Story. Dad got home not long after we were settling in, and reminded me that there were some gifts that needed to be wrapped for mom. So just as we started wrapping them, mom drove around the corner, coming home much earlier than we expected. Cary and Dad must have got a kick out of watching me run around yelling "Abort Mission!"

We spent the day looking through our 300+ pictures from our honeymoon (that alone took about 3 hours!) and recapping our trip. Dinner was at 6:00, and then it was time to open gifts!

I got a couple of movies (The Little Mermaid and Pirates of The Caribbean 3), some ornaments (a couple of joint ones of "Our First Christmas"), and more socks!

After opening gifts, Cary and I made a buttermilk pie for the gathering we had with his parents for tomorrow night. The entire thing was homemade, and it was the first time I had made something like this, and it turned out so great! We didn't have nutmeg, so we instead used cinnamon, which I think makes it so great (then again, I'm on a cinnamon kick right now!)

Cary wasn't feeling very well, so we were home and fell asleep early. Tomorrow is Christmas Day!!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

This morning we woke up early and packed our things up to go to Sulphur Springs for the day. Today was for the McFadden Christmas, and we met at Gary and Brenda's so we could all ride out there together.

Cary and I were quite tired still after getting in last night, looking through pictures, and opening our gifts (so much for 'just one'!). The ride out there was full of recapping the honeymoon for his parents. And while at Mema's house, it was full of more recapping (and looking at pictures)

At the house for Christmas: Mema, Peggy, Chris, Bryan, Tressie, Faith, Brad, Helen, Brenda, Gary, Cary, and me: what a busy house!

I received a Women's 1 year bible and a journal that I kept with for about 6 months (until I started keeping a blog, and now I am looking through it as I pull out the memories), a cooling rack (which has come in very handy in the year!), and cake pans.

It was a very good day, and nice to see my newest family!

Songs that describe our honeymoon...

Frosty The Snowman

Oh Christmas Tree

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Jingle Bells

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Last night I didn't sleep very well for several possible reasons: we were going home today, but we also had directions to be out of the house by 9:00 a.m. so that the housekeepers could come clean up after us. I woke up with thoughts like:

Did I remember to pack this?

Did I wrap the souveniers ok for a safe journey?

Did I get enough souveniers for me and my family?!

Anyways, finally got myself out of bed at 7:00 because I just couldn't rest anymore. We had what was left of our breakfasts for the week: Eggos and Cinnamon rolls!!!!

After the last minute walk throughs and packing (I had to expand my huge suitcase!!!), we left the house, saying a very sad goodbye. For the entire week, the front yard was beautiful and the snow was untouched. I was going to make one last mess by running through it, but I was sad to see that someone (or something) already had... :o( But then I saw deer tracks on our sidewalk, and was quickly forgiving, as it was a Deer!!!! Not some silly mutt, or human ruining my fun!

Since it was fairly early and didn't have to hurry ourselves too much to get to Boston, we drove to New Hampshire, where Cary showed me the house of his dreams. It is in East Andover, and there are apple orchards, a barn (connected) and so much land with this beautiful white home. And the road that you take to it is a little country road, not well known. But this is my favorite part: there are a lot of trees on either side, so the seasons on this road is breathtaking!

After stopping and looking at this house (and daydreaming!), we got back onto the road again. We were just outside of Boston when we decided to stop and grab some food for lunch, and fill the gas tank. We stopped in Lawrence, MA at a gas station. We didn't know until we got there that it was a Full Service. And man, the attendant was busy!!!! The worst part about it though was how bad the traffic and roads were. We barely got out alive!!!

We looked everywhere for a Subway (which Cary said before was EVERYWHERE!!!!) but never found one. We settled for a hamburger joint called Mike's. By this time, we were getting tired, and I think Cary was starting to feel a little under the weather. The food was good, though, but we left with it only being 1/2 eaten.

We got into Boston with 4 hours to spare. Cary wanted to try to show me the town a little bit (he had lived there for a month while training with American Eagle) but I was nervous that the airport security would be terrible on the weekend before Christmas. Also not knowing whether or not we wanted to pull our luggage everywhere, we continued on to the car rental place and then the airport. Just my luck--I could have been in Boston, looking around and enjoying the sites, but we were through airport security within just a few minutes....I'm ready to go back and see the historical sites!

To keep us entertained for the 3 extra hours we had, we bought a crossword puzzle activity book from one of the little shops and found a row of rocking chairs that faced out towards the airplanes. Another way we stayed entertained was that Cary and I walked around the airport and he showed me how much it had changed since he had been flying in and out of Boston.

The flight was delayed about 1 1/2 hours, but we managed to stay busy with the activity book. One interesting thing I realized while there (and also quite depressing)--at least one flight took off from this airport with the terrorists on Sept 11, 2001. It was eerie when I thought about how those men sat in possibly any of those seats...

We arrived home about 10:00 that evening to my greeting parents. They showed brought with them pictures from the wedding, so when we got to the apartment, we opened the door to a bunch of gifts and pictures! We didn't go to bed until about 12:30!

What an amazing way to celebrate our new life together. The most perfect honeymoon and coming home to Christmas and family!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Our last full day in Vermont!

This day we took advantage of the last of our time and drove out to Manchester so that I can see more. On the way to the town, we found a Christmas store. My first one outside of a mall!!! It was cute, and I bought a couple of ornaments: a maple leave that was dipped in gold for mom, and a round Nutcracker Soldiers with cool clear beading around it for Brenda and Gary.

We finally made it to Manchester, where we parked and walked to a Christmas store in the square that was based in something similar to a house. But this house was wall to wall, super crowded, careful-while-you-turn-around-or-you'll-break-something closed in. And everything was so expensive! We found a Darth Vader nutcracker, but it was $375!!! Sorry, dad, I would have gotten it for you, but it was a tad too much!

After we finished checking out the things there, we walked across the street and ate at Christo's Pizza and Pasta. The pizza was so good, and we were so hungry, that we forgot to take a picture of the food before eating it (something we did while there...odd, I know--but memorable!).

After eating, we drove a little more and saw more shoppes, historical sites, and the SOX store!!!! Cary knows my love for fun socks, so he patiently followed me around as I ran crazy in the store--4 pair for $10!!!! I would definitely keep them in business!

Another store we visited was the Christmas store that Cary and his parents found our cake topper for the wedding cake. There was room after room of ornaments, trees, and decorations! That was my favorite store to visit (besides the SOX store, of course!)

That evening was spent cleaning up the house and making sure we were packed and ready for the travels tomorrow. I was sad, because it meant our honeymoon was coming to an end, and it was the most perfect time I have ever had!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

I have a confession to make: yesterday was the warmest day so far (close to 32 degrees!), so I was nervous as we went driving around that our snow people would melt--it would be so depressing to see the watery remains of something that brought so much joy to me!

However, when we woke up, there was fresh snow all over the place! Everything was freshly covered again, including the table where our miniature men were...and I do mean were. You could no longer see them with the deep new covering. They had joined once again with their snowflake kin. At least they didn't melt!!!

This morning, we had planned to take a trip to Lebannon, NH, where we could go to a shopping center and buy a new memory card for my camera. Apparently, I had been taking a lot of pictures, and was running out of room...

We did get slightly lost trying to find Best Buy, which was just off the freeway...that's ok, because we got to see how the big city people lived in this area...nothing like Dallas!

We found another shopping center that had a Ritz Camera, so we stopped there and got the memory card there--1 GB!!! Now, we're REALLY set! While out, we stopped at a little Chinese restaurant, called Men At Wok (ha ha!!!!--Mine will be named Wok and Egg Woll....). It was tasty, but like every other Chinese restaurant--a lot!

Today was the day we had the sleigh ride and fancy dinner planned, so we decided to spend the time before then driving around and exploring New Hampshire.

We saw some historical sights, the world's longest covered bridge (crossed over between Vermont and New Hamshire) which we drove over a couple of times, and my favorite sight of the day--a black and white Newfoundland!!!! These are some beautiful, loving dogs, and this was the first I have ever seen that was multi-colored (they are usually solid black).

At one moment it started snowing again as we were driving around. We decided to stop in a church parking lot and admire the pretty flakes. I rolled down the window to feel the air when a snowflake landed on my black sweater.

This is the very first time I have seen a snowflake's shape. And it really is the unique pattern that God gives them. I know it sounds crazy, but it was such an amazing moment to experience. The snowflakes in Dallas seem to be all clumped together, so it was not what I thought they really were. Needless to say, we took as many pictures as we could so that we could zoom in and see the beauty!

When we arrived in South Woodstock, there was about an hour we needed to kill until the sleigh ride, so Cary drove us to a little convience store, where they sold food, beverages, and souveniers! After buying our coffee and 'hot water' (my cocoa was pretty much just that) we strolled around and looked at all of the socks, sweaters, pillows, and jams that were in the shoppe. Lucky for Cary, I didn't see anything that "I must have!!!






Around 4:00 we got to the location of the sleighride and waited for them to arrive. When he did, he was carrying along a large bed with about 8-10 teenagers on it. The hyperness that they had getting off of the ride! The guide took a moment to change out to a 2 person sleigh on one horse (instead of 2 like the other ride was) and then we were off!

It was such a beautiful, fun moment out there. It snowed the entire time, and not to mention it was at dusk with a cloudy sky...very romantic (except for the guide being the 3rd wheel!)

We learned a few things on the sleigh ride:

"I'll be there with bells on"--this was on the RSVP cards for our wedding. Mr. Kendron (very nice man) told us that it meant that no problems happened in the journey to the location. In the past, if a horse and wagon were found on the side of the road with trouble, the payment for the person stopping to help was the bells on the horse. Poor Grandma J had car trouble on the way to the wedding, so technically, she did not arrive with bells on...

We also found out that the sleigh guide was the former owner of Kendron Valley Inn, the inn we were about to go to eat. He told us a little bit of history with it (which unfortunately I do not remember)

The horse was named Dancer... and the other horse she just gave the larger tour with HATES to be alone. He was throwing a fit in his trailer as they drove away.

I know. The first bit of information was the most fascinating. I should have started with that first...but hey! Gotta change it up sometime!

After the sleigh ride, it was dark and we were FROZEN!!! We still had about 45 minutes to go until our reservations at the inn, but we decided to go there anyways and see if they would be able to fit us in....not to mention get warm!!

We got lucky--the inn had a vacancy for us...or 2...or 3...or possibly 50. We were the ONLY ones in the dining room to eat dinner. The waitress was super nice, talking with us and complimenting us. A doggie even wandered in occassionally to join us. There was laughter in the next room (a bar/hang out type area) so it didn't feel completely empty. The ONLY downer about this inn was that the fireplace was not lit...but the waitress provided us with warm apple juice with a cinnamon stick, so that warmed us right up!



This atmosphere couldn't have been more perfect for a honeymoon scene. And to top it off, my NY Strip Steak was DELICIOUS!!!!!! When we got back to the house, our snowmen were completely covered with snow. What a way to end the night!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Woke up again about 8:30. I love getting to snooze in on vacation!


Looking outside as we ate breakfast, I started feeling bad for our lonely snowman sitting outside...I know, I know...I have weird emotions...

But I fixed it, and now we have 2 snowmen! I'm surprised that I did not give names to them...like I said, weird!


Today we drove to South Woodstock where we visited some stables and arranged for a sleigh ride for tomorrow evening. Not far from there, there was an inn, Kendron Valley Inn, where we stopped by afterwards to make reservations for dinner after the sleigh ride.


With these reservations made, we decided to explore Vermont a little more. We drove around and visited places like the town where Calvin Coolidge was born (he was born in the back of a store!) and also visited Rockefeller/Marsh/Billings Historical sites. Here, they have trails, but they were closed for tours, but you were still able to walk the cleared paths. So, of course, we did.

Being in the Snowman making mood, we found some snow plowed against the road and decided to see if this snow was better for making them. Mine consisted of plopping 3 on top of each other in order of size. Cary was a little more artsy with his, carfully shaping it. This snow did stick better!


When we were tired of walking the short trails, we headed back into town. We stopped at Mac's again to purchase supplies for dinner tonight and lunch for tomorrow. And then we were off again to play more Hoopla and relax at the house.


Mid-way playing Hoopla, we looked outside and saw that the snow had started falling again. One of the neatest things about this house was that we could see deer tracks throughout the snow. We went downstairs to watch the snow from a different perspective. This is where the most embarrassing moment happened: I fell down the stairs! Luckily it was only the last couple of steps, but it did hurt none the less. Cary and I got a laugh out of it, though. Guess its a positive thing if you can laugh at yourself!


For dinner, we made Frito Pie (yum!!!). Now that we were nice and warm, it was the perfect time to drive to the square and walk around the green and take in the beautiful night. The green was so quiet and peaceful--apparently anyone who lives in the town is used to snow-filled nights and chooses to stay in. We took advantage of it and took several pictures of the tree and lights.


While in the square, we visited the library. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen! I took a lot of pictures, but of course, the pictures do not do the beauty justice. I was in awe of the place, and cannot wait to visit again.


Hungry for dessert, we walked back to the car to go to the East Ender (quickly becoming a popular joint with us!) We came up to a snow bank on the side of the road, and Cary very casually pushed me down into the snow....and the camera! Both were ok and REALLY funny, but (shock across my face....) he pushed me into the snow!!!! On our honeymoon!!!!!

As soon as we walked in the door to the East Ender, a host was waiting to seat us. It was as if they knew we would be coming back (and knew we were only coming for dessert...). The restaurant was slow enough that they even seated us at the same table we had the night before. Mmmmm!!! My Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake and hot chocolate were DELICIOUS!!!! I think Cary only somewhat liked his Apple Turnover. I know what I'll get again in the future!


After dinner we made the drive back to the house, winding down for the night. ABC Family had another Christmas show on, so that would have been the end to a perfect day. Of course I couldn't resist--when we were walking to the door, I tried to push Cary down into the snow in the yard...but he's too strong. Somehow, I ended up face first in the cold powder and him just standing there laughing at me!!!!