Ya'll Take Care!

Well, I'm back online after some of the most irritating days of my life. Power is down, water is out, and Dusty and I fled to Campbellsville to get warm and take showers. (Although, thanks to my Aunt Pam, we're squeaky clean!)

I have some great footage for you all, but I'm on a friend's computer right now so that'll have to wait. Right now, I just have to blog about something I just saw on ET.

Anyone remember the guy from when American Idol was in Louisville this year? The one who said, "Be careful," and those crazy judges thought he was threatening him.

Well, he's got his apology. Click here.

Having lived in Kentucky since I was a college freshman, I thought this whole situation made the judges look naive and a bit silly.

What do you think? If you were saying goodbye to someone and they said, "Take care and be careful!" would your red flags immediately go off? I don't think I'm far enough removed from the situation (being a Kentucky citizen) to come to an objective opinion!

I don't know when the next time that I will be able to connect to the internet will be, so until then: be careful!

I Heart Flea Markets

Please note that this post was intended for Tuesday. It is Sunday, and I saved the post so it will show up as posted on Tuesday but it's not. In fact, I had just uploaded the pictures when we had our Grand Power Outage. Which meant the internet went down. Which meant a tiny little piece of my heart withered.

With that said, I went shopping last weekend in Campbellsville to Peddler's Mall and Goodwill. And I cleaned up!









Now I just need to have my spray painting party with Andrea and we'll be set. It's amazing what a little spray paint will do for, say... I wooden coffee mug tree, or a little black shelf. (Or in Andrea's case a large brass peacock. I guess we'll have to blog about that...)

What Does It Look Like Out Your Back Door?

Well, the weather men got it right!

300 And Going Strong!

I've just noticed that this is my 300th blog post! Pretty crazy huh?

I'm just sitting around today, in sweatpants. Dusty is on the couch watching ESPN2 and letting Gabby cuddle up next to him to sleep. It is 11 am and I just woke up. And I don't feel guilty anymore!

Want to know why?

Because Dusty found out last night that he was chosen to be the new youth minister at Buck Grove Baptist Church! (Pending Sunday when we meet the youth committee and the youth group and talk "numbers." I hate talking numbers.)

All of this seems just a little too good to be true, especially to a self-professed pessimist. Why is it so hard for me to live out my favorite verse:

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Ps. 27:13

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited! I think it's going to be an interesting few years, and Dusty and I have a lot to learn. I expect to come out of it with more wisdom unlocked in my brain than I know what to do with. Because the Lord has told me that wisdom is practiced. I can't just sit around and hope to age into wisdom. It's something I have to practice.

Is God Crazy?

If I were to strip down naked and run through the Elizabethtown Mall blowing a shofar and howling like a hyena how would you classify me?

I'd say I was crazy.

If the Lord were to radically change the plans that you had set in your own head, and perhaps send you thousands of miles (literal or figurative) in the opposite direction, how would you classify Him?

Surely not crazy, right?

Because how do we reconcile Howling Naked Woman with the Lord heaping holy anointing on your next stage of life.

So please, spare me from saying, "God does crazy things!" or "God is just crazy sometimes!"

Because the fact of the matter is, we are the crazy ones. What causes us to call God "crazy" or His actions "insane" when our lives are radically taken in a different direction from which they were going? It's when our box is too small, our ideology too precise, and our theology too rigid.

I'm talking to myself here, too. I am guilty of this.

I just got done reading Job. If you are in the midst of a season of life where you think God is doing "crazy" things (for good or for bad) read chapters 38-41.

I'm beginning to learn that things I think may be "crazy" are not. They're just plain not. Because crazy is rash, and evidently I serve a God that it meticulous about every beast of the earth and bird of the air, and every leviathan. Whatever that is.

And His plans are meticulous about me. (Not to be confused with a previous post, in which I questioned whether there was ONE CERTAIN THING we had to do with our lives.)

It's an everlasting reminder to us to keep our minds open to any possibility. That way, when the unthinkable comes, you can say, "Wait... already thought of that. And I'm ready."

Yes We Can...

...make really cool icons now!

I'm sure you've all seen this:

Well now, see this:


I bet you're thinking, "I want one too!" Well, head over to

http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/

and make one! You can take a picture from your webcam, or upload one from your computer. And it's free. And you can create your own profile to make as many as you like.

Now I really feel like I've taken part of this very historic Inauguration Day!

Inaugural Blog

I suppose I would be a bad blogger if I didn't make any comments about the inauguration today.

I really don't have much to say; that may be the problem.

(However, if the rumors are true and they've spent about $150 million on this circus, I'm going to go ahead and throw out one word, opinion if you will: obscene.)

However, this is probably one of the coolest thing I've seen in a while:

More inauguration pics can be found here. (I love Big Picture!)

Burn Baby Burn

PLEASE do not tell me who was kicked off The Bachelor last night! I didn't get to see all of it, though I tried.

You see, I did a kind of boneheaded thing, and it resulted in 1st-2nd degree burns on fingers pointer thru ring on my right hand and me not getting to finish the show.

You know those smooth topped stove burners? You know how it's hard to tell if one is on? Well, that's what happened to me as I valiantly tried to rescue two Styrofoam bowls from being consumed by the heat. My friend Andrea is a super star and coached me through the first hour or so of the ordeal.

Wanna see a picture of my mangled digits?

They didn't stop burning until about 4 am (mind you, this happened last night around 7:45) and I had to sleep with my hand in a bowl of water. I'm giving myself props for not knocking the bowl over and waking up in a huge puddle.

In other news, LOST starts back up tomorrow. Who has three burned fingers and is excited?

THIS GIRL!

I also have the yummy, the delectable Margarita Lime Chicken going in the old crock pot to feed the fam tonight. Sans tequila, plus the soy sauce, honey, garlic, Dijon mustard, and margarita lime mix.

Seriously, it's amazing. Be jealous.

Last, last, last: Dusty, Gabby, and I watched history in the making today. While it's great to watch Mr. President make his speech and yadda, yadda, I'm loving Jon Stewart's post-inauguration coverage.

Big Day (This One's For The Boy)

Today was a pretty big day.

We had a job interview at a church that we're both really pumped about. I feel like everything went well, which is a scary feeling for me. I've walked away from plenty of interview thinking I nailed it, only to get a call saying they're going with someone else. And it's just in my nature to be pessimistic, which doesn't help in this case. Needless to say, I'll keep you updated, whether it be good, bad, or ugly.

...and this part is for Dusty:

The Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC Championship game tonight against the Baltimore Ravens. I feel like I should be more enthusiastic about that. Let me add a few of these: !!!!!!!

Sooo in 2 weeks we'll yet again be gathered around the TV to watch history in the making: either the Arizona Cardinals win the first Super Bowl in franchise history, or the Pittsburgh Steelers become the team with the single most Super Bowl wins: a grand total of 6. (!!!!!!!)

Reasons To Do Without

I'm pretty adamant about not doing the whole Santa Claus thing with my kids. I have reasons, and they're justified in my mind. People who do the Santa thing are great and more power to them. Heck, my parents did it, though I'm going to go ahead and say it was pretty half-heartedly. I don't remember ever believing in the big guy, though I did have brunch with him once.

I'm inspired to write about this because of the Boston Big Picture story I just saw about the end of the Christmas Season. I always forget that for some people, Christmas doesn't end until those Magi show up. Maybe it shouldn't end at all... I mean He came and He's coming back right?

Click here and take a look at these pictures. They're fabulous! My favorites are the ones that say stuff like, "Palestinian Christians," or, "Iraqi Christians," because they are so encouraging. (#12 is also a shocker, a part of the "Santa" tradition I never knew!) But there's one picture that just sort of sums up why I feel the way I do.

Placed side by side like that sort of puts everything in a new light. I mean, legends say that St. Nicolas raised people from the dead and threw bags of gold into the windows of poor people in the dead of night.

And I'm determined to teach my kids by whose power he did all that, and that that "stuff" is for us, today.

(and that Santa isn't real!)

Clarification

Dusty would like it clarified that in my post Wondrous Wii, it was cold in the house and that is not his blanket.

It is, in fact, Gabby's blanket. One of her many blankets. That kid has more blankets than I've ever owned in my lifetime. Probably like eleven or thirteen.

But that one is our favorite. It is actually really, really, really warm and I don't even see how it's good for a baby anyways. That blanket is huge! We're just keeping it in good working order until she's old enough to realize how wonderful it is. (And it is wonderful!)

...at any rate: it is not Dusty's. And yes, there are cute, lovable animals on the other side. But it's not his.

Mile Marker(s)

Today my marriage turned 8 months old. That's 8 out of 12. That's eight-twelfths. That's two-third's. That's 66% (repeating.) That's over half. That's over half the year! Like in 4 more months, we'll be celebrating our one year anniversary.


That's crazy awesome. (!)

Wondrous Wii

The Name Game

I may live in Kentucky, but around here, it's Steeler's country. Especially now that they are playing in the AFC championship game on Sunday night, 6:30, blah, blah, blah.

Today while working around the house, Dusty had ESPN2 on. (Gag.) They had the mayor of Pittsburgh on as a guest, Luke Ravenstahl.

...oh, wait! That's not his name anymore! Read all about it here.

Now, I think this is a little over the top. But after living in a home full of Steelers fans (though I'm pretty sure Lindsay doesn't care as much as the rest of them!) this doesn't surprise me in the least.

I think I'll change my name to Emily Sny-lamalu-berger, just until Sunday.

Oh What A Beautiful Day!

This morning I woke up and the colors were more vivid, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping...

...actually I woke up this afternoon, it was gray and windy outside, there are no birds because it's January, and the only chirping may have been Gabby...

but I didn't have to go to that dreadful, dreadful daycare and I was exuberant!

I don't know why the Lord brought me to that place, or if he did at all. I do know that He's ok with me not going back and that there is a plan.

I have to keep saying that phrase every time I look at our online checking account:

"He's got a plan, He's got a plan. I may not know what we're doing, but He does and everything is going to be ok..."

Right?

Spiritual Cripple

How many of you have ever felt bound up by this outlook on life:

"I have a major decision to make, and so many options. I better choose the one that is God's will or I'm screwed."

Be real now; we've all done it. And I feel like it's made me a spiritual cripple. Here's how I'm reasoning my departure from this mainstream thought process: If God is so big and infinite, how could his "plans" be any less for my life?

He's called me out of darkness into light and that light is the light of the world right? That...is...huge! Why set our limit at our city, state, or country? Why set the limit at what we know we're "qualified" to do? Why set our sights on a meager income because that's all we feel we're capable of making?

I'm ready to uproot this way of making decisions, because I'm ready to be uprooted myself. And maybe I'll start learning to walk on two legs instead of using that one crutch all the time.

Back To The Drawing Board

All right folks: I'm unemployed again.

I'm not going to go into the gruesome details, but I do have claw marks on my wrist from one of the children. State would have gone bonkers in that place.

Have you ever just walked out of a place (a job, an interview, etc.) and sobbed the whole way home? Because that's what I did. I mean to the point of heaving and gagging I was crying so hard. (Great visual right?)

So back to the ole drawing board I suppose. I'm really getting tired of this whole job search thing.

Found this online and giving a shout out to hubs!

Coverage

Has anyone ever worn X-Ray Glasses?

I haven't, but I saw them!





This is a cover band that my friend Adam took us to see. It was fairly hysterical and we had a lot of fun.

Question: Will I ever go to a hole in the wall bar to see a cover band again?
Answer: Most likely so.

Third Time's A Charm

Well everybody, I'm employed! Let's take a look at the places I applied to:

• Chase Bank (big fat "no")
• AT&T (even bigger, fatter "no")
• Hancock Fabrics (but I don't sew)
• Comfort Inn (front desk anyone?)
• JC Penny's (no retail experience)
• Super 8 (front desk again)
• Hardin County Schools (looks like I can't be a sub)
• Econo Lodge (front desk again)

And where have I ended up? Well it's not anywhere on that list!

This job not only gives me a source of income, but fulfills something that I've always wanted to happen: an on the spot hire!

The Lord is GOOD! I didn't even have to go through that terrible process of, "Will they call back? Should I call them? What should I do?" The director talked to me for a while, showed me around the center and I start tomorrow at 8 am.

The only minor hiccup is that I was so grateful to get a job, I didn't ask how much I'd get paid. Smooth move, Emily.

Here's to people makin' babies, because it's keeping me employed at the moment!

What Are You Doing Right Now?

What are you doing right now because I'm watching football. I'm pretty sure Gabby is rather enjoying her first play off game, and by that I mean she's quite sleepy and is resting happily in Mommy's arms.

And Dusty is wearing the awesome hat his bril (that's brother-in-law) got him for Christmas.

"This is a shout out to Kyle: thanks for such a rad gift. Love, Dusty."

Twitterpated

All right ya'll I'm on Twitter. Adam T. convinced me. I'm giving it a month and seeing how addictive it is, then we'll see...

you can follow me at: mrs_snyder.

FAIL. (2nd edition)

OK guys, here's a good one!

So I apply online for a part-time sales representative job at AT&T. Not my ideal job, but it's money and I need it.

I spend 45 minutes filling out their little personality questions and whatnot. 45 minutes of my life that I will not get back, may I add.

Here's why:

I submit it and within 25 seconds receive an email that says:

"Thank you for expressing interest in employment opportunities with Cingular Wireless. We received the information you submitted. At this time we have decided to pursue other candidates, therefore we will not be considering you further for this position. We wish you the best of luck in your career search."

25 seconds folks. Less than that if I'm honest.

Failure #2 and I'm going good. :)

FAIL.

So as many of you know, the job hunt is ON. This evening I received my first response from an employer and I thought I'd announce it to everyone:

[ahem]

"Thank you for your interest in the position of Teller-PT/20hrs-Elizabethtown, KY (Mulberry) at JPMorgan Chase. After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that you have not been selected for this position"

Fail.

What this tells me is: "We're sorry. Even though you are a college graduate, you don't have any experience and therefore can't handle being trained to work 20 hours a week as a bank teller."

I am determined to say one good thing about each rejection that I get so here it is: This is one of the first jobs that I applied for, and I applied online which I hate because you don't get that first time one-on-one interaction. So this gives me a little more hope that online applications actually do work. Even if it's the opposite of what I hoped for.

Oh who am I kidding?! I can't even balance my own stinking checkbook...

Today I applied for three more positions. Let's see what they yield. Until then, I'm hiding my debit and credit cards.

Guilty Pleasure

I've been debating on whether or not I should come out with this confession. After much deliberation, I've decided the time has come.

I. Watch. The Bachelor. To be honest, it's Andrea's fault. She got my hooked on The Bachelorette over the summer.

Now I know all of you out there who think these shows are stupid. I've heard your arguments. "How could any girl want him when he's been making out with everyone on the show?" "It's immoral that he's dating 15 women at one time." "Blah, blah, blah."

I get that. Really, I do. And I agree. It's the sheer absurdity of this show that sucks me in. Much like some of you out there love Survivor (blah!) or American Idol or what have you: I think we're all entitled to a show that we can "secretly" watch. Except I'm coming out with it on here because I have a feeling this season is going to be over the top and I'll have a lot to make fun of. I mean blog about.

To check out the girls click here.
To check out the guy click here.

Anyone else have a show that they're not ashamed to say they watch? Or am I alone on this one?

They're Going Back?!

Does anyone know what happens in two weeks from today at 8 pm (7pm Central)?

That's right: the premiere event of Lost Season 5!!!

You can watch Sneak Peeks here.

If you haven't jumped on the Lost wagon (and I'll admit, I was a late bloomer: we devoted our whole summer to catching up on all the seasons in our free time) you can watch free episodes at www.abc.com.

Personally, I have a few theories, but they're always proven wrong so I'm just going to keep them to myself, for the time being.

Can't wait!

Back in the Bluegrass

Well, we're back in Kentucky after an uneventful series of plane rides. We've jumped back into things full swing.

Dusty started grad school yesterday. I think I get more worried about it than he does. For example: "Dusty, do you have any assignments? Do you already have to have anything read? Hey Dusty... hey Dusty, what are you doing? What's this class about? Do you think it's going to be hard? Hey Dusty... hey Dusty!!"

I had to leave the house yesterday while he was working because I'm pretty sure I was annoying him so much.

I start CNA training next Friday and I'm getting really excited! Like, I might go and outline the first chapter of the book so that I don't feel worthless for not having a job right now kind of excited. (Plus Dusty got me a new notebook that is sea foam green and brown and I really want to use it!)

Last but not least my poor car wouldn't start today. Now, let's be clear about one thing: I expected this. It hadn't been driven for 15 days, it was due to not start. Dusty's a super star and did some stuff and now it runs but I've officially started looking for a new car. (Says the girl with no income.) We're considering a Honda Fit or Nissan Versa. The dream would be a Prius, but um, yeah... right.

Back to reality, now it's time to find jobs. Pray for us as we try to find some income in this awesome economy that we're all living in.

Steele's!

This place is insane-u-crazy! Mounds upon mounds upon mounds of books, everything from my dear friend Dietrich B to textbooks to Vladimir Nabokov (that's right, the author of Lolita.)

Humorous anecdote: Kyle (the bro) was walking through the mounds and mounds and mounds of books and knocked some (a lot) over. The guy who owns the place is walking past him and says, "There you go knockin' shit around!"

I heard it from the other side of the store.

And it's so big, and the bookshelves are so intricately arranged that we literally played Marco Polo to find each other. Have you ever been subjected to a human maze? It's kind of like that, but with a purpose.

One more reason to love KC!

today...Today...TODAY!

I'm a book worm and I'm not afraid to admit it. And while I enjoyed shopping with my mom and two of her friends yesterday

(and here I shall mention Mrs. Sara Truax, mother to my friend Adam in my previous post and Donna Q, who is a grandma but the waitor who was digging for a good tip yesterday claimed that could never be)

what I'm doing today makes me giddy with excitement. We are hitting up two bookstores in the KC area: Steele's, and the local Half Price Books (where my lovely husband got me a giftcard to for my b.day) and I might come home on some type of high from all those books.

And I just had to share it, with somebody.

Crazy [oh] Eight

I am currently sitting at my friend Adam's house, watching everyone play Mario Kart on the Wii. (Sidenote, the Wii is such a good investment. If you're considering buying one, it is totally worth it. And I don't even like video games.)

I am about an hour into 2009, but may I just say 2008 was crazy. I mean we're talking major major milestones were reached both in my life, and in the lives of my loved ones. What I better way to recap than to blog while I have nothing better to do? Let's take a gander, shall we?

5.10.08: Emily Graduates (finally.)
5.17.08: The Snyders Get A New Addition: Me!

10.7.08: Dusty Helps His Band Win Ham Days

10.11.08: The Gilkeys Are Wed//Dusty Has A Birthday

11.2.08: The Snyders Get Yet Another New Addition: Gabriella Grace!

12.12.08: Dusty Graduates, Too!

12.14.08: Dusty Gives Me A Black Eye (so this isn't a milestone but it's dang funny!)


Throw in a mid-November move, Dusty getting accepted into grad school, and me deciding to pursue a nursing degree; a new job possibility for Dusty that we're really stoked about, and two cars that are turning 10 years old this '09 and the stage has been set for an equally as interesting year!

Happy New Year everyone!

e.