Saturday, February 4, 2012

February Life Update

I've given up on the State Library and Archives job as it has been 5 weeks now and still no answer. I have not heard back from Everest College, though I think I did a good job with the in-person interview. Meanwhile, last Friday I got a call from the Diocesan House again, wanting me to come back for a meeting. Basically the job opened up again, so they offered me the job and I took it. I started Mon Jan 30 and have just finished up my first week. It has taken me forever to get the hang of the very multi-line phone system (like 20 extensions) but I think I'm finally getting it. So I am currently working for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, which covers the entire state (71 churches/groups/foundations). Needless to say, I have been introduced to a whole lotta people in the past week. I found out that we have a very active Spanish ministry (including a Spanish-only church) and a Sudanese church, as apparently a lot of the Lost Boys of Sudan settled in the Phoenix area. I like it when churches are more multicultural. I already know a lot of church lingo, as I am a cradle Episcopalian and my mother is a priest, but I will definitely have to keep learning whilst working in this position. Luckily, everyone is really nice, helpful and patient with me as I learn. It's a part time job (18-20 hrs) but I'm hoping that it will go to full time by next year. It apparently was full time before but because of the economy, they had to downsize. The priests for the most part are pretty cool and super smart, like the Dean of the Cathedral has a PhD in Astrophysics and the Bishop has a PhD in Medieval History (I'm very curious to know what he wrote his dissertation on). 


I'm making a very conscious effort to read more this year, though because of my working now and being ill since Wednesday (baby gave me his cold) that has slowed down a bit. So far I have read 41 books so I am off to a good start. Might have to eventually change my goal from 200 to 366! I am currently reading John Green's new book The Fault in Our Stars, which is brilliant. I'm also tackling some cookbooks, in Chinese and British cooking. Since my hubby is English, I'm always on the lookout for good British cookbooks as he gets nostalgic every now and again. We recently discovered The Cornish Pasty Co. in Tempe, about 45 minutes from us over our anniversary weekend (last Saturday the 28th, 6 yrs). We ended up having the pork/apple/potato and the steak/mushrooms/zucchini/Stilton pasties and they were awesome. We also had Banoffee Pie, which was delicious and I hadn't had in forever! For those who haven't had this dessert, it's basically a graham cracker crust with toffee/caramel, bananas and whipped cream. Simple but amazing. I discovered it when I was studying in Scotland. 


Liam, my 6 month old son, is doing well. He had his wellness checkup recently and weighed in at 18lbs 9oz and was 29 1/2 inches in length. I keep saying he's like a baby in a toddler's body b/c he's so long. He got ill after he was given a mandatory shot and now my mother, father and I all have the crud, i.e. congestion, coughing, sore throat, runny nose, hard to breathe etc. We think Liam might walk before he crawls as he has been practicing in the bouncer that my parents got him. He has been eating solid foods for a little over 2 months now and doing well with them, eating both fruit and veggies. My hubby is doing well in his job. He works for an apartment remodeling company in Phoenix and gets along well with everyone. We are currently looking for a place to live. We wanted to rent a house but everything is just a little bit out of our price range, so we'll probably be looking at apartments or townhouses instead. Problem is finding a half decent one in our price range that's not in a bad area of town, as I want Liam to be safe. We're hoping to have enough money to buy a house of our own by this time next year, and that the prices will still be low. 

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