So – it’s time to update the blog (my motivation for writing) Last weekend my parents, siblings, and all kids (with the exception of my youngest brother, Andrew, who was on business in Germany – lucky dog, but we missed him!) got together for our 1st “Joe and Pam Cottle Reunion” (there’s got to be a better name than that. Suggestions, anyone??). I’d give a run-down on all the happenings, but fortunately for me, my dad did an excellent job on that front already. See the family links on the right? Pick the one named “Mom & Dad” and enjoy the awesomeness! I will just state here that my favorite parts of the weekend were the museum (especially, since it seemed to be a hit with everyone) and Tom’s burgers (we’re thinking maybe we should open a hamburger stand as our...
Tuesday morning Tom called me at work to say that his contract had ended (at least for now) and what did I think about going out to Utah for the 4th of July holiday? I wasn’t happy to get this call – I wanted this contract to last longer and I didn’t think I wanted to make such a short trip (the kids started school the next Tuesday). I said “no” and we hung up. But I got to thinking and called Tom back and told him if he really wanted to go, then we should go. Then, instead of just working a couple of hours, I worked the rest of the day to try and get things squared away for the week. My kids weren’t all that happy to have to hang around the office so long, but I kept telling them that it was so we could go out of town, which helped. Once we got home, I put them to work packing their stuff while...
Why is it so hard to focus on the positives?? Despite the fact that Tom & I had a good weekend (see below) and Tom had an phone interview on Monday (which was an answer to a specific prayer) – in fact, despite that we are overflowing with blessings too numerous to count here – I still find myself easily depressed when something unexpected occurs. So – there was the window debacle (see below) which has necessitated more expenditures than we thought we’d have with the window installation. Now there is the $530 fridge repair that we had to have done today. That’s about two months worth of grocery money. I’m so depressed!! Why can’t appliance repairs be more affordable? Our fridge has given us so much trouble already (the water doesn’t work, the ice maker is temperamental, the bottom...
Tom called me yesterday afternoon on his way home – he has been laid off. We have mixed feelings. On the one hand, no one wants to be out of work – and we say that from experience. On the other hand, I don’t know that Tom has ever worked in such an unpleasant environment and was already beginning the job hunt when he was laid off. So … we’re trying to look for the blessings in this new turn of events. Fortunately, we have more money in the bank this time around. Please keep us in your prayers and keep Tom in mind if you hear of any IT positions. You can access his resumé here: Thomas Wood Resume. Read More →
Well, Tom & I decided we were actually going to take the kids to Disneyland after talking about it for a couple of years. Because of Spencer’s school schedule, we decided to take them the week of Thanksgiving. We thought it wouldn’t be too crowded at Disneyland, because it is a holiday weekend, afterall, but that was foolishness! Still, we had a good time anyway. We didn’t want to tell the kids – we wanted it to be a surprise. We had to let the fact that we were going out of town out of the bag, so to speak, because we had to contact Spencer’s teachers about his absence. But we let him think we were going to Monroe. On Saturday afternoon we loaded the suitcases into the car and headed to the airport. We hadn’t gotten far when Spencer said, “Umm, are we going a different way? Because...