A New Year Already?

Are we sure that it's really time for a new year? I mean like beyond-all-doubt sure? Because it seems like it was just a few weeks ago when we got a load of snow on New Year's Eve and I had to drive the Jeep over to Aharon's house to get him so we could play Monopoly. And then the next day at work Port Huron got even more snow and I honestly thought I would be snowed in at that horrible place-of-employment forever!

So much has happened this year. Joel graduated high school and went off to MSU with Jerry, leaving me home all alone (which has been kind of nice, actually). I finally was able to quit my job in Port Huron that had caused me ridiculous amounts of stress and start a new job right in town that has been great so far. There were tragic deaths, unexpected pregnancies, legal battles, and nights so fun that you laughed about them the next week, too. Friendships were destroyed in a matter of hours and new ones were created almost effortlessly. We all watched in uncertainty as the economy proved that it answers to no one, and as Americans divided themselves on every possible major issue and the only-slightly-larger majority went on to create a "historic" presidential election that will spend the early part of 2009 trying to convince the other half of America that it wasn't the worst possible decision that could have been made. (I will remain unconvinced, in case you were wondering.)

I'm sure that 2009 will hold many new events for us to experience. I know my life will change in many ways. It will be an awesome and wonderful year filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences and love and happiness; it will also be a tragic year filled with uncertainty, loss, and doubt.

I have many hopes for the new year. I hope to get married, get closer to actually graduating from college, learn, grown, and serve others. I hope to be an example and a blessing. I hope to get through challenges and doubts by relying on God and not on man. And ultimately, I hope that I'll leave 2009 as a better person in every possible way.

The one concrete certainty for 2009 is that God already knows what's going to happen and how we are going to get through every challenge, obstacle, blessing, or gift.

I just hope I don't let anyone down, because a new year is a fresh start and a chance to erase some past mistakes and try again at being a better person.

We're Moving On!

Aharon decided to start a blog! So, I've decided to join him. Sure, I've had a blog at Livejournal for like four or five years now, and I had planned to just link the two of them together. I couldn't figure out how to get that to work, though.
Plan B was to just manually post all of my journal entries from livejournal here. A quick visit to livejournal's past, however, revealed that I had nothing of interest to say.
I then decided to just grab the important ones and start new here. So here I am! Get ready for some good times!!

If My Thoughts Were Important Enough...

I think that if our government wants us to conserve fuel and walk more, then shoveling/de-icing of sidewalks should be required. I don't really care if they make the property owner do it or if the city does it, but it's not cool that I have to walk in the road on my way to work or else slip and fall on the ice that covers all of the sidewalk in the entire city except for on my road where the people actually shovel their sidewalks as to prevent death.

Longest. Sentence. Ever.

I think that if a car company makes a product that does not work, they should fix their problems regardless of whether or not anybody has been injured by their shortcomings. I'm looking at you, GM.

I think that office buildings should have to maintain a constant and comfortable temperature year round. It is unacceptable for this building to be 75 in the summer and 58 in the winter. Especially since I can't bring in a portable heater because of energy consumption or some crap like that. At least I can wear sweatshirts. Maybe Monday I'll bring a blanket with me and see what they say!

The Joys of Being Not-Yet Married

Aharon and I have been dating now for 4 and a half years. We plan on getting married. Once we get married we fully plan on combining finances. Call us old school but that's the way we roll. None of this "I pay for the cars and you pay for the house" stuff for us. Anyway, over the course of the last 4 years, some things became easier to just do together. For example, when Aharon really only goes home at night to sleep, why pay for two Netflix accounts? So instead we split the cost of one account and share it equally. Cell phone service was costing each of us $85 a month. We combined the two lines to one family plan and knocked the cost down to about $58 a month each. So while we never combined bank accounts, we did combine a lot of bills.

Anyway, to the point. Aharon has worked for an electrical company in Livonia for almost 3 years now. This morning, he got laid off. Apparently most of the work that office was doing was with Beaumont Hospital, and they recently suspended most of the projects Aharon was working on. So, there's no work. He'll get enough unemployment to pay his car payment and car insurance for about 6 months, and in that time he will look for whatever job he can find.

I spent some time last night (because we knew this was coming as of yesterday afternoon) trimming what I could off our phone plan and cutting our Netflix subscription down to bare bones. (And I would just cancel it, but I can afford the whopping $9 a month if he can't afford his portion!) It will make a big difference.

So I guess my point is that this is going to be a nice challenge for us. We aren't yet married, but because of our strategic saving-money plans, I now have to make some sacrifices so he can get his bills paid. If we were married, that would be a no-brainer. But we aren't yet and here we are - going through a similar situation.

He's kind of happy about being laid off. He did not enjoy the job or the drive to Livonia every day. But, his dad found the job for him and he felt it would be disrespectful to leave. Plus, when you're working an hour and a half away and with limited vacation time, taking days off or even time off to squeeze in interviews is not at all easy.

And I guess I am happy to. We get a sneak peak at how we handle a financial crisis. By the time we get married, whenever that happens now that money is so tight, we'll know how the other reacts to such situations and how it can be handled in the future.

Every cloud has a silver lining, right?