What should I be when I grow up?

Well, I will admit that the restaurant in Sterling is a good idea. I really like it. I am hesitant to move forward with this, however. The reason for my hesitancy is that I am not 100% sure I want to be tied down to Sterling. I have my moments of being totally excited about it, etc, but for the most part, I'm just not sure I have the drive to do that here. We did get some news on the building today. We know the owners and they told me, confidentially of course, that they would probably sell it to us at cost or just a little over, because they think we have a great idea!

I'm still not sure yet what I want to be when I grow up. Of course, I have always wanted to be a princess or queen of some sort. I think I can rule those possibilities out. I have always known that I wanted to be a mother. Yes, I can probably accomplish that someday. I also used to want to be a florist and a music teacher. Well, I am sort of a music teacher through my voice lessons, so I've got one down and many more left to go.

Our church service was wonderful yesterday. If you get a chance to listen to the sermon, I would encourage you to. www.gbc-hutchinson.com. Anyway, I will admit that it is fairly rare when I sermon will stick with me after Sunday is over but this one has! Have a great day!

Restaurant Business

Andrew and I met with a lady in town yesterday who is head of the Main Street Sterling organization. For those of you who don't live in small-town-Kansas, Main Street is an organization that helps revitalize the downtowns of these small towns. It has done a lot for Sterling. She talked with us about some opportunities we might have in the downtown area for a business and what other help she could give us with the restaurant. She said that she would be honest with us about the prospect of this and she thought it would go over very well right now. Three of the five restaurants are for sale in Sterling. One is possibly going in in the near future but she said that it wouldn't be similar to ours. So, we talked buildings. We have some good ideas.

The favorite idea right now is a building that could possibly be listed on the registry of history sites. It is the old newspaper building in Sterling. It would take some renovation to get it to where we wanted it but the size looks good, etc. We were thinking we would decorate in a newspaper theme with old pictures of the Sterling Bulletin on the walls and our menu would be a newspaper! I thought the idea was very cute. Anyway, if this were the case we would probably need to change the name of our restaurant. Mango Grill doesn't really reflect anything newspaperish. So, I am asking for any good ideas. The town newspaper is called the Sterling Bulletin but we don't really want to call it the Bulletin because the paper is still around and is called that (too much confusion). So, any ideas would be welcome. Keep praying for our decisions in this area. I am still a bit hesitant to do this project. It would mean staying in Sterling longer and probably delaying having a family for quite a bit longer than we thought as well. So, there are still pros and cons. It sounds like we would have a lot of support from the community and this organization. We'll keep you posted on new events!

Oh P.S. there are new pictures posted on our website of Dad's birthday (Kurt) and our trip to Ohio for graduations. There will probably be more this weekend if I get around to it! www.theschechters.com

Weird Things

Hey all. I apologize in advance for the vagueness of this post but what I am going through it a bit embarassing so I will not go into details (especially for any boys that might be reading this). I just wanted to post on here and ask for you all to pray for me. I am having a bit of a medical dilemma. It isn't anything serious but just confusing and a bit stressful. Perhaps I will be able to share more in the future.

Anyway, while Andrew is in the midst of deciding which toy to buy himself with his birthday money. Dewey is doing well but hasn't learned any new tricks. I am out of ideas. Does anyone have any neat ideas of things to teach my dog . . . and especially HOW to teach them to him?! Thanks!

Funny things you hear coming out of a bathroom!

Ok, so I don't want to embarass my dear husband, whom I love very much, but this I must share. I am currently listening to him hum the tune of, "I can show you the world," from the movie "Aladin" while in the bathroom!!!! I am about ready to wet my own pants this is so funny! :)

Homecoming

Sterling's homecoming was this past weekend. It was a beautiful day and all went well. The parade seemed better than normal. Which means a 15 minute parade instead of 10. We won the football game fairly easily and the musical went well! Since I am on the Sterling College alumni council we help out with homecoming more than the average Joe. I helped set up the alumni booth and then sold tickets for the food fair. I got yelled at by one person when I didn't tell her how much the tickets cost, even though there were three signs stating the price at my table. There was a very LOUD band playing behind me, hence the reason I didn't shout to her, "They are 50 cents a ticket." I need to work on getting thicker skin! :) Anyway, things are back into full swing at the college. The new president is really making huge strides in helping us become more financially secure. He doesn't just talk about things, he really makes them happen. Well, I guess that is the latest SC update. I must go now so that I can shower and get ready to head to my good ole' alma mater for another day of work.

Birthday

I, once again, didn't get a card send for a birthday. So, Happy Birthday to Andrew's Aunt Wil!

Crazy Ideas!

So, we have moved ahead a bit with the restaurant idea without committing ourselves. We have checked out several locations in town that would be good spots. Our favorite one is a bit pricey so we will have to work out whether or not we can really open there. We sent out a survey yesterday and have gotten some interesting results. Most people from the college think we need another dining place in Sterling. They also seem to want the type of restaurant that we are thinking of opening.

There are still a lot of variables in place before this can actually happen. Most of the time I just feel overwhelmed at the prospect of actually doing this and I feel very inadequate. However, we see a need in Sterling for something like this and we really see a need for a place that is college-kid friendly. We have looked around and some other small college towns in the area and they seem to do a better job of catering to the college crowd. Sterling doesn't have anything open after 8:00 p.m. except Food Mart! :) So, I will keep you all updated on any progress we might make on this. I would appreciate your prayers for this. We really just want to do God's will and we do feel led in this direction. We'll see where it takes us.

Diet Update

It was good to read your comment, Cindy. I hadn't looked down that far for a while so I just saw it. Way to go on the Weight Watchers! Another lady here at work is doing that as well and she really likes the team support so it sounds like a good program. I really like the South Beach Diet because the food doesn't seem like diet food. I can eat when I am hungry and can invent new fun things to eat (mainly with wraps). I weighed in this morning and am holding steady at 13 lbs (no, I don't weigh 13 lbs but that is what I have lost) even after my weekend of cheating (which consisted of 2 corn chips, 2 bites of cheesecake, some of Andrew's birthday cake, and about 3 or 4 spoonfulls of ice cream, (hey, Andrew only turns 25 once!!)). I decided to go back to the strict phase for a week just to be on the safe side. I don't remember it being this hard the first time around. Andrew is a big help. He helps me not eat something bad when I want it. He will just eat it for me! :) So, that is the latest diet update. Now, I can't wait to get to go back to the Phase 2 part so I can have wraps again!

Mango Grill!

Andrew and I (mainly Andrew) have lots of crazy ideas. Our latest one is that we would like to open a restaurant in Sterling. This idea was sparked when we saw a restaurant building for sale and when we thought about the lack of good food in Sterling. I had sort of dismissed the idea from my mind for a while but we brought it up at lunch today with a bunch of our co-workers. They thought it was a terrific idea.

I am fairly hesitant to do this since we know we don't want to stay in Sterling forever. Not that a restaurant is forever, but it would take more of a committment than what we are living with now. We also don't really know how to run a restaurant. Of course, no one was born knowing how to run one, they just learned. We will probably be looking into this idea for the future and just see what comes of it. I am tired of having all these good ideas but never going for them. We just sit in our little quiet life and don't try anything new so that may motiviate me to actually do this. I think I would really enjoy it as well. We came up with many different names this weekend (the funniest being, "I'm not Wong" in otherwords, no oriental food) but I think we really liked Mango Grill, after the color of Andrew's hair. Who knows, maybe one of our crazy ideas will come true, one day!

Blog Book Ideas

So, I love hearing about new books. I wish that I could join a book club and have a different book chosen for me but alas, Sterling is void of a book club I can join. I believe there is a book club but it is mainly older women who meet during the day. So, I decided that I would take matters into my own hands. Many of my favorite books are ones that have been recommended to me by other people. So every so often, I am going to write a post like this one. I am going to list some books that I am currently reading that I would recommend and I would like for LOTS of people to comment and post their favorites. This could be very cool. So anyway, I am currently reading the James Herriott series. It is about a country vet in Scotland and it is a true story. I am also rereading Calm my Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow (an excellent book). Hopefully I can post again soon with some new books. Enjoy!!

Surprise for Andrew!

I can write about this now since the surprise is over. For Andrew's birthday, his mom decided to fly out here and surprise him. I wanted to be able to get him to the airport without him suspecting anything so he could be total surprised. So, Friday morning I told him that I had heard him saying he wanted the day off on Friday so I took it off for him, as a surprise. That way we could go to Wichita and catch some movies. I told him the only catch was that my boss had overheard me talking about going to Wichita and had asked me to pick up a prospective student at the airport. I wondered how this would go over with Andrew. So, I decided to also tell Andrew that all we had to do was to pick up this student and take him over to his relatives house and that he would visit on Monday. I also threw in that this student was a boy and I was nervous picking him up by myself! :) Anyway, so I got Andrew to the airport successfully on Friday and he even was asking me what the guy looked like and if I saw him. We sat down to wait in the baggage claim area and Andrew said, "Hey, that sort of looks like my mom." I decided to drag it out as long as possible so I said, "Oh really? Where? Oh, I don't think that looks like her." But Andrew caught on and was VERY surprised! It was hard to keep the secret from him but it was very fun to surprise him! We have had a very fun weekend filled with movies, shopping, and a birthday party with my family. I am so glad that it worked out!

Birthday Explosion!

Well, I have been slacking on sending birthday cards. When Andrew and I were first married, I got calendars from all sides of the family (Myers, Schechter, Walter and Fairchild). I put all the birthdays and anniversaries in my Yahoo calendar and I was going to stock up on birthday cards and never miss one. A good idea but I haven't done very well at keeping up. Now, with both of our familys combined there has been a large amount of birthdays in the past two weeks so I will just concentrate on those. So Happy Birthday (late in most cases) to:

Bella Myers - 3rd of October

Aunt Ronda Walter - Her birthday was on the 4th of October. Ok, my sister wrote a wonderful, loving blog about my Aunt Ronda and I just don't feel that I can do justice to what Aunt Ronda has meant in my life in comparison to what my sister wrote so here is the address for her blog http://www.xanga.com/jen_fair02. So please take the time to read her post about our aunt.

Lindsey Schechter - 5th of October. I hope that she looks into coming to Sterling College so that she can come and visit us! :)

Reid Myers - 7th of October.

Caroline Setters - 12th of October.

Linda Myers - Her birthday is today, October 13th. She is Andrew's aunt. I know Linda a bit better than others because of her visits to Sterling and our emailing. I enjoy visiting with Linda because we usually end up on some deep topic and she really makes me think. I enjoy sharing book lists, movie ideas, etc, with Linda.

Susan Schechter - Her birthday is today, October 13th. She is my mother-in-law. Many of my girlfriends are married and also have mother-in-law's and I vote mine the best (from hearing all their stories). She is always fun to be around and isn't judgmental (I guess that is what other MIL's do, I wouldn't know). I really was blessed with my in-law's because they are all the best. They all care about me and love me and that is evident in all they do.

Andrew Schechter - His birthday is tomorrow, October 14th. Yea, yea for Andrew! I think you all know how I feel about him so I won't go into much detail. He is turning 25 tomorrow and I hope that I can help to make his day special.

Happy Birthday to everyone! I know there are other birthday's in October. Maybe I will actually remember to send all of them a real card!

Good Predicament

Well, getting dressed in the mornings is becoming somewhat of a struggle. No, I haven't lost the use of my arms or legs. I have lost a strange amount of weight in strange places. I am not necessarily losing weight in the same way that I gained it (gut, but, and well else where) and therefore I am having a difficult time finding things to wear. Last Fall, in a desperate attempt to find clothes that fit, I bought a pair of pants that was to big and too long. I like relaxed fit looks and so I thought it would work. Well, those pants are now out of commission. I can pull them off without undoing anything and since they have no belt loops I am out of luck. I bought a second pair of pants just about two months ago. Andrew and I had just eaten a HUGE meal at Chili's with an appetizer, full meal, and dessert (long gone are those days), and then we decided to do some pant shopping. Bad idea. Those pants are now almost to loose to wear. They look a bit baggy are are strangely uncomfortable. However, since I haven't lost enough weight to fit into my pre-sophomore-in-college weight gain pants which I saved, I am stuck with only one pair of pants that actually look good. I have several tight ones and one pair that fits but was stained by an unfortunate incedent in the grocery story with a bottle of Cascade! :) So, any one that would like to donate to help remedy this wonderful wonderful problem, please make checks out to me. I accept cash as well. :) :) :)

My Monday Evening

So, I remembered today at work that it was my night to fill in for the counselors. Meaning, I am back at work for three hours supervising our student callers since ALL of the counselors are out on the road. I really don't mind doing this every so often. It seems as if three hours is a bit long for calling for the students so we'll see how long they stay. I actually have to be home by 8:30 p.m. for a voice lesson. I asked Andrew to wash the dishes tonight since I had to work. Any bets on whether it will or will not get done? I won't tell you what I bet! :)

So, I am working on mailings here in the office, and do I meaning mailings! We send out over 30,000 pieces of mail each year. We are just a bit behind this year due to some procrastination on certain office workers parts. I won't say who, so I will see if I can catch us up on some things. It is still fairly slow in the office but should pick up again as counselors begin to arrive back from their traveling season. Two of them are currently being snowed in in Colorado! Always, exciting. Have a good evening!

Life goes on

The shift in my thinking and attitude has been quite amazing since finding out the Wyoming church was not going to recommend me for the job to their session. I have started to enjoy more things. Like the wonderful neighborhood we live in, etc. I cleaned the house like a mad woman on Friday night and we have both started to rethink things we might want or need to do to the house. The first thing is to replace our dishwasher. We have tried all sorts of things to get that thing to run properly. We have tried cleaning it out, rinsing it with CLR, using different levels of soap, running it with different settings. Nothing works. The dishes normally come out dirtier than then they went in and I'm not kidding. So, I have been handwashing dishes for the past few days. I will probably have to keep this up until we can afford to get a new dishwasher. That probably won't be until we pay the rest of our enourmous dental bills for my ONE tooth! Probably only several months. Anyway, life is good. We had a wonderful relaxing weekend!

News from the Church

I received an email from the Wyoming church yesterday afternoon stating that the session of the church had yet to meet but the personnel committee was recommending another guy for the CE position. So therefore, not me. I spent last night being sort of disappointed because it would have been a great opportunity for me but I know that there is a very good reason that I didn't get the job. I do have my moments of enjoying working and living in Sterling. I enjoy being able to go to the college activities such as football, theatre, music and I enjoy being friends with many of the students who I used to go to school with. I also have some great friends that are faculty and staff here. I just have a desire to get out and experience more of the world (United States) than just central Kansas. I'm sure some of you can identify. But I am content with the decision of the church. I emailed them back and asked them if they could let me know the reasons for their decision. Andrew jokingly said they didn't hire me because of him but I am sure that the other candidate was older and had more experience. That is another frustration of mine. How am I supposed to get experience if I can't get a job? Anyway, I am relieved to say that I can finally put this post up. It has been a long time coming and I finally feel relieved that I don't have to wait anymore (for now). I will begin to look around at other places now.

A cold snap has come to Sterling. It went from 90 degrees a few days ago to the 50's and 60's today. Brrr! It seems a bit cruel like we didn't have a chance to get used to the cold weather. Ah, well. I enjoyed a cup of warm tea for breakfast so that is always a nice perk of the cold season. I hope you all are warm and cozy.

Random Post for Tuesday!

Hello All! Been a while since I posted so I decided just to write a little something this morning. We have just been doing the same ole thing around here. Several of my voice students have dropped their lessons for several months while they are in theatre shows (hmm, I had the lead in a show and never quit voice but maybe my teacher offered more lesson times, I don't remember) so anyway I have quite a bit more time than I used to in the evenings.

Dewey and I enjoy playing chase and we are now trying to train him to bow on command. He sings, speaks, sits, lays down, rolls over, waves, shakes, and "goes to bed" now. His waving is so cute. He is now in his "teenage" stage and so he is definitely testing his limits like pushing on our door "barriers" just to see how far he can get. He also has a tendency to run off when we let him out to use the bathroom so it is best to have him on the leash or have a treat in your hand.

We have been having a big golden retriever dog pooping in our backyard. I have now caught him twice back there. It is very weird, especially in the dark when I flip on the light and see a big dog back there. I'm not sure what we can do about it though. The only problem is that we have to clean up the poop!!

I am still on the South Beach Diet. It isn't too bad as far as diets go. I think Andrew has probably lost more weight on my diet than I have but I feel good and it seems to have cured several of my previous ailments so I will stick with it. Well, it's time to get back to work. I'll post again soon!