The Little Merbabe

You may have some idea of how much I love mermaids.... or you may have absolutely NO IDEA how insane my obsession has lately become. Poor Bruce, I have mermaid decorating plans for, like, every room of our future house! That may or may not happen.... But, the other day Bruce called me his Little Merbabe, and I have started to demand that he address me that from here on out... Yeah... Not weird at all... right...?

Anyways....My Birthday was on Monday (A.K.A. Memorial Day... In memory of... my awesomeness...)! Woo! Officially 21!!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE POOR MARRIED COLLEGE STUDENTS WHEN:

1. Since there's no money in the bank account, your husband steals flowers off of a grave in the Cemetery so you can have a nice birthday surprise. (OK, NOT REALLY!! That's what he TOLD me and I about DIED!!! Then he said he had a coupon for a free bouquet... I'm still not sure what story to believe exactly....)

2. You scramble all over the house, emptying piggy banks, looking in old purses and wallets, moving the couch cushions, and raiding the car to find exactly $6.00 in change so you can do something fun. (We had a buy one get one free admission into Crystal Hot Springs and admission is EXACTLY $6.00!! We paid in 12 quarters, 17 dimes, 10 nickels, 30 pennies and a 50 cent piece.)

3. You get a birthday card in the mail from your Grandma and Grandpa that has $30 dollars in it and you almost cry because it means you'll get to go out to Kneader's for your birthday dinner which is the only thing you really wanted to do anyways. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Cawley!!)

It was such a fun birthday! At first I was really down about not really having money because Bruce and I didn't know how else to really make it 'special' feeling. We couldn't even buy a cake... or a slice of cake... or a slice of bread.... But I think we really made the best of it! At the end of the day we were both stuffed, sun-burned, relaxed, and exhausted, and ready for a nap!! Which we took on the air mattress that we blew up in the living room, and then when we woke up (3 HOURS LATER!!) we watched the movie What Lies Beneath and I pretty much peed my pants I was so scared. The end.

These will probably be my most favorite memories in the years to come.

GOOD NEWS!!!

Since I'm starting my Esthetics program on June 26 of this year, it apparently falls into the category of the '2011-2012' grant year. July 4th is when it is officially the '2012-2013' grant year. So.... I qualify to get TWO YEARS WORTH OF GRANTS!! Isn't that great?? Especially because Bruce was on his mission and didn't make any money, so when we did our FAFSA for the 2011-2012 year we each qualified for $5,000 in pell-grants!! When we applied for our FAFSA for the 2012-2013 year (this upcoming school year) we were approved for about half of that because Bruce worked part time through-out the school year. We'll still have to take out student loans but not $10,000 anymore!! Probably only HALF that!! I'm sooooo grateful that that worked out! Just another sign that everything's falling into place the way it needs to be.

I also got a job where I will be able to work full-time while going to school full-time. I don't know how I swung it, but a friend of my Mom's works at home as a Record Transcriptionist. She mentioned they were hiring and my Mom got all the information for me. (Thanks Mom!) I got hired and have been working 2 jobs for the past little while. It hasn't been too bad because I'm still in 'training' for the new job so I only have about an hour of work to do a day on my own time. When I'm done training it'll be about 4-5 hours of work to do on my own time. (Which hopefully I can balance). As a record transcriptionist, I just listen to recorded statements (between insurance agents and people who have been in car wrecks or need to file an insurance claim) and I type it out verbatim. That's it. Pretty easy, and it pays well. I'm super happy about that because we can't afford both of us working only part-time.

NOT SO GOOD NEWS....

Bruce has been unemployed for about a month now. It's really stressing him out. He's doing all he can do to get a job. Each morning he gets up same time as I do, gets dressed in suit pants and a tie and takes his resume to every company he can think of. He's probably applied for 50+ jobs and that's not even exaggerating. Every time we think that he'd be perfect for a job or has it in the bag, we find out they hired a friend or relative instead. It's all about who you know here in Logan.

During school Bruce was SUPER on top of things as far as Internships and Scholarships go. He printed off the 5 pages of everyone who was going to be at an Engineering Career Fair, highlighted all the internships he'd be qualified for and printed off separate and custom resumes for each company. When he found out his group of friends (who are all sophomores with him) weren't even going to try for an internship (because sophomores don't normally get them over juniors and seniors) he convinced them all to come with him last minute. I'm so glad he looks out for others, but it ended up all of his friends got internships and not him! :( The same thing happened with Scholarships from the College of Engineering. He convinced them to apply and they all got a scholarship but Bruce didn't. He has said it would be different if he felt these were guys who were way smarter than him, but he feels like they are all pretty equal. I feel bad for him because I know he feels like he's failing somehow, but he is trying so hard, I don't know how that can be counted as failure.

Now we're having the same trouble with just regular summer jobs here in Logan and I just can't wait for him to get busy again. He stays super productive at home (like baking home-made bread, and doing the dishes, and doing the laundry, and cleaning the bathroom, and... wait... maybe I don't want him to get a job...) But I know it drives him crazy knowing that he's not 'doing all he can do'. Which he is, but I understand how he feels.

We just keep trying though. He'll get one eventually, this we KNOW! I mean, we both quit our jobs and felt great about it. So far, it's just worked out for me, but that doesn't mean that those blessings aren't benefiting the both of us. I know he'll get one soon. We're just trying to stay afloat (especially with the Bills) in the meantime. But who hasn't gone through these times, right? We'll make it, and we're having SO much fun while doing it!!