December has been an interesting month to say the least. At the beginning of the month, Chouaib lost his job. Since my two esthetician jobs were bringing in about $.50/week combined, we both went into serious job searching mode. That means searching for a serious job and we were serious about it. That's what that means. I came out the big winner with a job offer from the University of Utah Orthopaedic center as an outpatient service specialist. I pretty much wet myself when they offered me the job because a) I was totally convinced I blew the interview when I made a snarky remark to a co-applicant in a group exercise (this story is an entire blog entry in itself) and b) I asked for much more than I thought they would offer me, just to give myself some negotiating space but they offered me almost $1 more than I requested. Pretty amazing. I start January 5. Chouaib is still looking, but I doubt he's going to find anything until he actually has his green card, which is in the application process. I wish he'd hurry up, because we really need to buy a king-sized bed.

In the meantime, we're dreaming and scheming and enjoying married life and good friends. We also resolved to go to the gym every day. Since we met, we have gained almost 50 lbs combined. It sucks to admit, but I'm at a weight I haven't seen in over 4 years. So, yeah, we're making changes.

Here is a recap of December in pictures:

We put up our first Christmas tree. My non-Christian husband didn't even try to set it on fire.

This is a view from the outside.

I went to Temple Square with Melissa to see the lights.

This would be a great picture if I had a decent camera. But I will be thankful for my cell phone camera.

A pretty decoration at Temple Square.

I changed my hair color and Chouaib learned to shovel snow.

Adam, Jake and Chouaib. He fit right in at the family Christmas party.

Here's a close-up of the tree on Christmas morning. We went easy on the gifts this year. That thing in the background on the left is not a gift, but a Christmas decoration. It's a freaky half-breed of a snowman and a Christmas tree. I won't even ask how that happened. If you get too close to him and he's turned on (if his switch is turned on, not the other way, perv) he will sing Christmas songs in a creepy loud and obnoxious voice. I keep him though because it's not like I can be picky about my decorations yet. So I keep dreaming and scheming.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

A Few Things

I've been waiting for something really exciting to happen. I've made some good food lately, but I don't really want this to turn into a food blog. I guess the one thing I can say is that I've decided that my newly-chosen profession (as of 2005) isn't really working out that well for me. It's one of those things that I keep thinking will get better if I just stick with it. Then it does, but the really successful times are short-lived. Despite my best efforts to stick with it, it just doesn't seem to be cutting it. I've got the skills, but they're not paying the bills. Lame. On that note, I gave notice at my second job at a nearby salon, not only because it hasn'tbeen terribly busy, but also because I don't feel like I'm really a fit there. I'm the only esthetician there and the oldest employee, and, well...yeah. I'll just leave it at that. So I tell them Saturday that I'm ready to quit on the spot, but I that I will honor whatever appointments are already scheduled as to not leave them in a bind. As luck would have it, I am suddenly getting more appointments in one day than I usually do in a week. I'd like to think that this is the way it will stay, but I can't count on it. I'm babbling. Anyway, new developments are happening on that end and I will just have to update when I've got something solid.

Married life is still great. We're learning to compromise and I'm learning to be appreciative and not complain when he unloads the dishwasher before running it. We have interesting neighbors. Since we moved into this place at the end of September, they have not taken their trash cans to the curb ONCE. We quit doing it 4 weeks ago and they still have not taken it out. I don't understand this. They also don't seem to have considered that it's necessary to shovel and or salt the driveway and sidewalk that we share when it snows. We're in a duplex so to solve the garbage problem, we finally took a giant magic marker to two of the cans (there are four: two for recyclables and two regular ones) and wrote #1 on them, because we're awesome and to distinguish between our cans and theirs. They seem to have caught onto this system, and are only using their cans for their garbage, but they have yet to grasp the concept of taking them out to the curb on Thursday morning. They're starting to overflow. This should get interesting. But it's not our problem anymore.

Here's a picture I took today:

Pretty freaking awesome.

I think that's all for now. I'll try not to be so neglectful next time.

One more thing, I read in a magazine today an article about making a short (one or two items) Not To Do list for 2009 instead of a giant list of resolutions. This is a great idea. I'm going to think it over and write about it next time. I'm thinking of something along the lines of I'm Not Going to Be Poor Anymore.