The Spudwick Papers -- An Update

Okay...we're back in business. Now, it's time for an update. It's been plenty long enough, wouldn't you agree?

So life has been a little crazy of late but things have settled down for a while so I can fill you in on the details.

Since the last update, Jeff was having a rough time with the job he had found. The promises his bosses had made were just not happening and eventually he found that his paychecks were laughably small. So it became necessary for him to put in his 2-week notice with that job and try to find something else local and a bit more steady. He is now working for a much larger company and is home every night. He works long hours so he's not always home early enough in the evening to make supper plans with friends during the week but he does get to sleep in his own bed every night. This new company treats him well and they seem to really like having him on board. To date, he enjoys his job (it's a mix of some long haul within the province and local around the city) but is finding that overall, he's getting tired of the trucking industry in general. For now, it's a job that pays the bills and allows us to meet the financial goals that we have set for ourselves.

My desire was to post an update about a month or so ago but the computer decided to crash...again. So after a lengthy series of emails sending the same information to six different people trying to convince them that it was still under warranty, they finally sent a box so that I could send the computer off to be fixed. Even after we got it back, we were reluctant to get it set back up again because then we'd have to fuss with getting it back online (it's a complicated story but suffice it to say that I was going to have to spend a few hours on the phone with our internet provider). Eventually, we got it set back up and the internet hooked back up and now here we are.

In the middle of all the computer crash mess, I was preparing for a trip out to Calgary to visit my family for a weekend. Yes, I realize that it seems kinda silly to only go for a weekend but that was the time that I and they had available so we made it work. There was a specific reason that I was going out there in the first place. Visiting my family was the bonus but the real reason was for my siblings and I to have some photos taken as an anniversary gift for our parents. They had hired a photographer from their church; she was really great to work with. I wasn't super keen on the posey-posey sort of photo shoot (we could have done that at Sears) and as it turns out, neither is she. We had a lot of fun and she captured some really great moments. Here's the link to see our photos.

The day before I left for my trip out to Calgary, I had a meeting regarding the government funding that I had applied for my nursing school. I had a previous meeting back in November and had a pile of paperwork to fill out and submit as part of the application. After that was all done and submitted, I had a follow-up meeting which, as it turns out, was basically the "we've checked you out and you seem like an okay person so we'll give you some money to help you" meeting. It was a big relief to walk out knowing that I have been given a major financial boost. They are offering a very generous funding package including paying all my books and half my tuition among other benefits. My end of the deal is to be in school every day and pay my half of the expenses (the remaining half of the tuition, student fees, etc). A week after I got back from Calgary, I had an orientation at the school which I left beginning to feel very excited about the prospect of school happening...at last. I'm not usually one to get overly excited about things way in advance of them happening but with school...oh, yeah! I'm getting pretty stoked!

In the meantime, we are both just working, working, working and trying to take advantage of the local activities, like yard sales and the Saturday morning farmer's market. We did however make an overnight excursion for our anniversary to a little town called Grand Falls. Unfortunately, the falls were dammed up to power the hydro plant. It was still nice trip...even nicer that Jeff surprised me with it and to boot, managed to keep it a secret for a week. Usually, he's busting at the seams to tell a "surprise" so I'm even more impressed that he was able to keep it a secret for a week!

Well, it has taken about a week or so to get this update finished and off to the printers so I suppose I should sign off and post it before another week passes. As the most interesting man in the world would say, "Stay thirsty, my friends". That shouldn't be too hard if it is as hot where you are as is it here.