I have a gas problem!

I was thinking today about our nations little gas tantrum we're throwing. I think it's funny everyone is trading in their SUV's and trucks and buying hybrid's and geo metro's. If you really stop and consider how we drive, one might first consider simply planning your trips smarter, walking to church, or just skip going out to eat once a month or skip going to a movie once a month, and you more than make up for the gas hike. I heard on the radio a guy talking about how people spend exorbitant amounts of money "per gallon" on all kinds of liquids...salon quality shampoo, soft drinks, hair gel, lotion, bottled water. Bottled water???? Hello! Tap water won't make your kidneys shut down! Can you imagine people 200 years ago seeing the future and watching us walk into a store and lay down 2 dollars for a bottle of Dasani water when you can have it for free from your own faucet? They would be dumbfounded! Yet when the rate for gas goes up by a few cents on the gallon, everyone has a huge meltdown because they are in a sense "forced" to adjust their budget, whereas, if they go blow 16 dollars at Burger King, and Supersize it without hesitation, they don't give it even a passing thought. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in driving cars that get 8 gallons to the mile, but I think people just need to relax a little about this whole gas thing. It's starting to get annoying. Am I alone in my thinking??

Labor

Not Tiffani's......John's





Mom and Dad Wadley were getting rid of their long time dresser that they've had for years. Tiffani had a hair-brained idea that it would be fun/cheap to strip it, sand it and then paint it. Tiffani's idea, John's back-breaking ordeal is what it was. It took about a month and a half longer than we thought it would, and John lost a good pound sweating while working!! Don't worry, we stuffed him full of food to make up for it. We think it turned out nicely, and it didn't break the bank. Since John is such a white-collar kind of worker, I thought I would brag about his being able to tackle a blue-collar job and make it look good.



After John had finished his work on the dresser he and Alexis took a break in the back yard. The pool is too small for John to get in, although I think our bathtub is too small too and somehow he fits in it, but Alexis fits perfectly and boy does she love it. Since it's been so warm the last two days, she has lived in her swimming suit and reminds me frequently to put more sunscreen on.

You'd think that John's day would've ended there, but oh no, it wasn't dark yet so we kept him busy! My sister's kids and my mom came over to play this afternoon and we let John babysit them outside. The youngest one, Aydian (15 months), had a dirty diaper and grandma doesn't change those, so she bribed John to do it and he made $5!! About three minutes later Ryley (3 years) came waddling into the house. Grandma really doesn't do big kid nasties, so John made another $5 cleaning him up. Not too bad, now he can go out to lunch this week!!

After Alyson's luncheon, we took the kids to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. They were so excited and asked all day when we were going to go. They loved seeing all the animals, and Drew loved to put his fingers through the holes to try and touch them. We kept telling him not to do it that they would bite him, but he didn't listen. The first time, a chicken got to it. This did not phase him though, as you can tell by the phrase: the first time! The last time, he put his fingers through the goat gate and a baby goat bit him....hard. He didn't bleed, but it was pretty close. Needless to say, he didn't do it any more after that. Alexis was sufficiently scared as well, she would stand back about five feet and yell: "get away, they'll bite you!" She got better, but it was funny! Last year Alexis loved riding on the horses, she couldn't get enough. This year, Drew was our little cowboy and Alexis was borderline terrified. She was afraid she'd fall off, it didn't matter what we said. It was a lot of fun see them having so much fun looking at the animals and making the sounds they made.

Today was cousin Alysson's wedding!! It was so fun to see her dressed up like a princess, Alexis loved it! She looked so beautiful and they were both so happy! While we were outside taking pictures we saw this cute old man dressed up as a chauffeur standing next to his old car. It is tradition in their family to take the bride and groom from the wedding in this car. He's done this for 20 of his grandkids, only has two more to go, and then he said they'd start on the great-grandkids!! He was so adorable.

Fire Trucks

We went to a Firetruck parade Saturday, to celebrate the 100th year of the fire department. They had almost fifty firetrucks there and they were all honking and sounding their sirens. The kids loved it, our ears did not love it as much!! Even though it was chilly outside, we had a lot of fun with our cousins and grandma's!

Funny

We thought this sign at Wal-Mart was a funny typo...er...blatant myss-shpelleengh.



Alexis and Drew were fighting over an old Salt Water Taffy bag. I decided to cut it in half so they could each have a half and they would stop fighting. Their little creative minds took over and next thing I knew they had invented some new hats for themselves!




Last week one evening I was feeling so sick all I could do was try to close my eyes on the couch. Tiffani was at school so I was watching the kids until bedtime. I must have fallen asleep because the last thing I remember was Alexis begging me to help her put together a puzzle she had gotten for her third birthday. It is one of those 24 piece oversize jigsaw puzzles. I told her I felt sick and couldn't help her. I dozed in and out and must have fallen asleep for a few minutes because when I looked over to check on them, Alexis had put the entire puzzle together all by herself!! What a little brainiac!

Jobless and Jobfull all within a week

Last Thursday I got laid off from my job at Provo Craft. It was a horrible experience. Management called a meeting and my immediate boss told me to go wait in the conference room while everyone else met in the design center. When I got to the conference room, there were about 7 other people there, all with stunned looks on their faces. We knew this drill, but this time it was our turn....Corporate downsizing. They called it a re-alignment of resources but in reality, it was probably just about a shrinking budget in our precarious economy. I had always considered my position to be fairly safe since the company had repeatedly stated that their goal was to focus on tools and technology. (Why fire one of only two mechanical design engineers?) Anyway, they carried out individual interviews and were ALL BUSINESS- very straight faced. There were no thank you's, no "we appreciate what you've done", just simply, a "you're dismissed today. pack up your things please." They wouldn't let me talk to my immediate supervisor either. Very strange. So anyway, at least they gave me a two week severance and Tiffani and I had enough savings to last us a few months. I had no work on Friday, so we had Mom and Dad Wadley watch the kids and Tiffani and I went to the temple to ponder what to do next. We wanted to keep all of our options open whether that meant looking for jobs out of state, looking for teaching jobs, or possibly commuting to Salt Lake. We felt prompted that whatever was supposed to happen, things would kind of fall into place as we proceeded forward.

On Monday afternoon I received a telephone call from the owner of local Industrial Design company asking if I could come in for an interview! I hadn't even sent out any resumes yet and I hadn't made any phone calls.... He contacted me!! This is a guy that had worked a lot with Provo Craft as a Design outsource company and he had actually seen some of the CAD designs I have done, so he felt comfortable offering me a job. He also liked the fact that I had experience running both SolidWorks and Pro/Engineer programs since he uses both in his company. Today, Tuesday, He offered me a great salaried position. The company is called Rocketship Design. You can see more info on them at their website. www.rocketshipdesign.com

So as you must guess, we were pleasantly surprised that things fell into place so fast. We were worried about having to potentially sell the house, and move all while being 7 months pregnant. Phew!! So yes, this week has been a busy busy week. I have a nice polished resume now that I didn't even have to send out to anyone! I guess it's true what they say... it's not about what you know, it's about WHO you know!