Well . . . hmmm

I decided to give a quick post update. No call yet, maybe later today or tomorrow. I will post an update when I hear anything. Thanks!

I have my doubts!

I have really been having my doubts lately. I don't think that I got the job. First of all, I don't have much experience (besides a few summers and volunteer) for the position at that church. Second of all, I will have to move to take the job. These are two things they will probably consider. Third of all, I only have my Bachelor's degree. Many churches these days are looking for someone with their Master's degree. Also, I don't know anyone in the church. Usually those things really play a big part in getting a job somewhere. Anyway, it doesn't help that I had a dream last night that I got an email from them saying those exact things. Oh well, what will be will be. I am prepared for either answer but like I said, I am beginning to have my doubts about actually getting the job.

Note from the Wyoming Church!

Hello all you doubters, family and friends. Just joking. I have been doing ok (I think) at being content in this situation and just having patience except when I answer (or don't) other people's questions (a bit fault of mine, being annoyed at unanswerable questions), so I am glad to finally have an answer for you. I don't know if I got the job or not (you'll see the email from the church below) but I am content whatever happens (staying, going, changing jobs, or not, etc). I have learned a lot about that lately. Anyway, I will share with you all the recent email that I got from the church.
---------------------------------------------
Hi Jaime, We checked all your references and you are indeed a
great person in everyone's estimation. We don't have the background
check back yet, but I'm sure its clean. We are interviewing a second
candidate at Church on Sunday and should have an answer for you Monday
or at least by Thursday next week. Thank you for your patience.
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Please continue to be patient with me. I will email, post on my blog, call, instant message, hand write a letter (just kidding), the moment I find out anything, even if it is that I didn't get the job. Thanks for all your support throughout this whole process.

Dewey is a singing dog!

Please go to our website www.theschechters.com if you would like to be entertained by a new video of our puppy, Dewey, singing along with me as I warm up for voice lessons. The link is on our homepage. Enjoy!

P.S. I finished phase 1 of my diet yesterday with less cravings and some weight loss! Hmm, maybe this does really work. I'm still causiously optimistic.

Skinny Cookie Suckers

Ok, I have been TRYING to hold off writing this blog because I am trying to have a good attitude about things. But because of the area in which I work (ok, so my desk is in the office lounge so I can actually SEE the cookies, right now) I have seen person after person march in here and snarf down a cookie. That's fine. If they want to eat a cookie, more power to them. However, if they are eating cookies and I'm not then shouldn't they be FATTER than me??! Well, they are not. I have watched after a dozen or more people, who are skinnier than I, march in here and gobble cookie after cookie. Life is NOT fair. Why do the short people with the slow metabolism not get to enjoy the good tasting cookies in life. Not fair, no not fair, at all! And don't try to tell me they exercise more because some of them, I know, don't exercise at all. Life is hard and I want a cookie but, woe is me, I gain at least five pounds per one cookie!

** Good news. I can have oatmeal again this Wednesday. There will be celebration in the Schechter household when I eat my oatmeal and my whole wheat piece of toast.

Salad Sharing

Since starting this south beach diet, it has been somewhat of a challenge to find things to keep my taste buds happy. But in my quest for delicious healthy foods, I have come across a new love. Let me explain. Two Friday's ago we were eatting supper at our friend Melanie's house. We each brought something to share. Melanie made this salad and well . . . to tell you the truth I have always eaten salads but I have never LOVED a salad but . . . I found a salad to love now! I just want to share with you this fantastic salad. She had a recipe for it but didn't follow it exactly (left out some sugar, etc) and so mine is also a modification of hers but also delicious. The measurements below are just guesses to what I throw in there. I usually just make this in individual sized bowls so we don't waste any precious veggies but I will post the recipe below if you were to make it for a family gathering. Here it goes. . . in my opinion the best salad in the world!

1/2 bag of Romaine Lettuce
1/2 bag Fresh Spinach (usually Baby spinach is what I use)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2/3 cup of sunflower nuts
sprinkled with Feta Cheese (plain or flavored is fine)

Dressing
3 Tablespoons EV Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

I mix and match the vegetables but don't ever forget the Feta cheese. It gives the salad wonderful flavor with the Red Wine Vinegar. As my friend Melanie says, "Feta makes it betta." Enjoy!

What's in a name?

I have been thinking about names lately, of course. Names are very important. You are stuck with them generally all your life. I want to send out a plea to anyone who may be deciding on what to name a baby girl. If you have any reason to suspect that your daughter may grow up to be a "princess" and not a tom boy then please please please name her a VERY gender specific name. I remember the first time I knew that "Jaime" could be a boys name I was very devestated in my little princess heart. No way would a real princess have a boy's name. :( I could not, however, fall back on my middle name, as some do, to be a princess name, because, of course, it could also be a boys name. Dawn is the girl spelling but I wanted to be Elizabeth, Sarah, Michelle, or something of that girly nature. I have been trying to get Andrew to call me Barbie for a very long time since Barbie is the ultimate girly name to make up for the years with my boy name . . . but alas :) he just won't do it! Ok, I guess I am stuck with Jaime for the time being! :)

South Beach Crazies!

Ok, for those of you who don't know, I am on the South Beach Diet. The plan has three phases. The first phase, the strict phase, is two weeks long. You have to read the book to get the whole explaination but in a nut shell it is NO sugar or bread, no carbs at all, for two weeks. I am on day four of this phase. In phase two you start adding good carbs, such as fruits and whole grain bread. You stay in this phase until you have reached your ideal weight and then you have a little more freedom on the Phase 3 which is the maintenance phase. Ok, all that explained . . .

Someone brought cinnamon rolls into my office this morning, grrrrrr, two huge trays, and left them all day for me to smell. I have been such a good girl and not eaten even a nibble! Yeah! I still have an hour and a half until we leave work but I will and can do it!! I will go have a snack of low-fat string cheese instead.

A Bad Poem about my husband!

Ok, so I am no poet. Our software program is down at work and I have accomplished everything else I can in the last two days without the program, so I thought I would write Andrew a little poem. It is very unlike me to put things like this in a public place because of this guilt complex I have (more on that later, maybe) but I just decided that I don't want to hide the fact that I love my husband very much and appreciate him. If you have a problem with that well. . . I hope you don't. So here is my poem dedicated to my husband. Sorry it is so poorly written. Jenny was always the poet in the family! This has been posted with the permission of Andrew.

My dear husband is so sweet.
When I ask him to, he always rubs my feet.
He helps me take care of the dishes
And always encourages me to eat fishes.

My husband always takes care of the money
And puts up with me when I am funny.
My husband does a great job mowing the lawn
And enjoys playing on the computer with that little pawn. (Online chess)

My husband loves to watch Science Fiction
And can correct me nicely on my diction. (especially pronouncing movie star's names)
My husband bought me a wonderful dog
And he also helps me write on my blog.

My husband gives me sweet little kisses
A Birthday or Anniversary he never misses.
Every morning (almost) my husband makes the bed
He is also very good at keeping me fed. (Too good!) :)

My husband works very hard on our house.
He always protects me from the mouse.
My husband loves computers a whole bunch.
I always love it when he comes home for lunch.

My husband is good at making roast.
But he has been known to boast.
At least he admits this boastful sin
And always stays away from anything relating to gin.

My husband always drives the car so I can read.
He is so tall that he looks like a Swede.
My husband helps me with my diet.
He even loves me when I am not quiet.

My husband says I'm beautiful so I know
That he will love me even though my thighs may grow.
I always love to spend time with my husband, do you know why?
Because he is the most wonderful, caring, sensitive guy!

So Many Blessings!

I need to blog about so many things that I can't fit them all in so I will just give you an update. There is no word yet from the Wyoming Church. I appreciate everyone's concern about the situation. I have been very encouraged lately by these verses so I will share. I have read these over and over in my life but it is amazing how different verses will mean different thing to you at different points in your life.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 4:8 - I lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

And my favorite verse ever:
Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

I love this verse because the verse contains promises of: salvation (he is mighty), delight, quietness, love, and rejoicing with singing. Of course my favorite part is the singing part. I hope you all have a great day.

Dewey is such a smart dog!

I just have to brag a moment on my very smart beagle who just learned to shake and wave. Two new tricks. We are now searching for more ideas of things to teach him. Maybe more behavior things are in order. He is so cute now when he puts his little paw in the air and waves. Any ideas for the next trick?!

For Real!

Well, my day was a bit crazy. So crazy, in fact, that I will only blog about it in small bits. So here is the first story that lead me to the craziest part. I answer the phone this afternoon and someone asks for my boss. I informed the person that he was in a meeting. Then the person proceeded to ask if my name was Jaime Schechter. I said yes. He identified himself as the person from the Wyoming Church. He asked if it was alright if he spoke with my boss. I told him that I did put my boss on the "No Call" list because I hadn't told him about the interview or even the position yet. The caller apologized and said that now that he looked closely he could see that. I gave him an alternate phone call for another reference of mine and we hung up. I was in a bit of a shock over this. I decided that it was probably time for me to tell my boss about the interview and let him know that there was at least a possibility that I could be taking another job. So at 4:30 p.m. I headed into his office. I was very nervous about telling him because I was unsure of how he would react. I'm not sure why I was so nervous. Things went very well. He understood that the job would be a good opportunity for me to do something that I went to school for. It has been a nice and quiet evening at home with supper from Haldon's and a movie!

Homeschool prejudice!

I can't tell you how sick and tired I am people bashing homeschoolers, especially when one is in the room. I am not sure why homeschoolers have gotten such a bad reputation. They are just the same as any other person. I know many other kids who went to a public high school who are weirdos and I know many homeschoolers who are very "normal" whatever that means.

I am sick and tired of people thinking that all homeschoolers do is wake up in the morning, put on their loose jumpers (with colored socks and sandals) with big flowery prints, go downstairs for school, read a few lessons, learn to knit, study some more and generally only socialize with each other and never see the light of day. The things that people don't get to see are the wonderful field trips you can take every where, the ability for homeschoolers to learn a job trade and how to work hard since they aren't stuck in school all day, the ability to interact with other kids at church, family, life in general, etc, and the ability to teach your kids whatever they want (and many more things, I'm sure).

When I came to college I realized with extreme disappointment the failings of my public education. I really didn't know much before coming to college, except how to read and write. I am not even going to count any arithmetic since I can't even do my times tables beyond an embarrassingly low number. Sure, I could have studied harder but I got fairly good grades in High School (Honor Roll at least) and so therefore, why should I? I learned from my husband and sister-in-law that they actually knew HOW to learn. Something that I was severely lacking. I am going to say that I do think my husband is smarter than me. Yes I will admit that. (However, as a side note I have always been a hard worker, thanks to my farm upbringing, and therefore was able to do a little better in school (so much talent, so little motivation). Actually, he was motivated in the areas that he wanted to be! :) )

Now, you may be thinking, obviously she will probably homeschool her children. To tell you the truth I haven't decided yet. We have plenty of time for that decision. The main point of this blog is that I am just very tired of people making fun of or assuming homeschool people are weird when they don't know anything about it. It is like people don't think homeschoolers can make a positive contribution to the community. Well, I STAND here on my soap box to tell you that they can and they do. Who do you think all the little old ladies and young as well come to in Sterling when their poor old computer is broken? Andrew!! Who do you think the city asked to be on the Main Street Committee here? Wasn't public schooled little me! Andrew! And who is a huge supporter of the new downtown development in this town. Andrew! He makes significant contributions in society and to family. We must be aware of ALL prejudices we have but especially against HOMESCHOOLERS!!!!!!!!!!