JD still doesn't have a job... Well, he has a job offer that he accepted, but he isn't getting paid yet. The company is a new start up commuter airline and they are waiting for the FAA to approve their certificate. This may take some time. JD took the job offer in November and we are still waiting for a training date. In the mean time I left my job at Home Depot for a better paying job at a place called Floor and Decor. I am a design consultant and am back in my realm as an interior designer. Although its not full remodeling, I get to help people put together ideas for bathroom tile designs, flooring for the whole house, and backsplash designs for the kitchen. The store is all hard surface flooring products, nothing else. It feels good to be in a position that allows me to use my creative talents.
Although my new job pays better it doesn't pay all the bills. We have been relying on financial gifts from friends and family, and right now we are able to use our tax refund to take care of our current house mortgage payment and some bills. I am really hoping that JD's job will start in the next 60 days. He does have another potential job in the near future working for his Dad, but that is a new start up company as well. In fact, we are thinking his Dad's new business and the flying job will end up starting up at the same time. So he will have two jobs to choose from!
In other news my brother's wife, the brother who passed away from cancer, she passed away just before Christmas from the SAME type of cancer he died from! Talk about a weird coincidence. I am really sad to see her go. She was such a sweet lady. I never got to meet up with her again after Paul died, and my daughter KD was really looking forward to hanging out with her Auntie Ruth again. She lived up in Northern California, so we never had the time to get up there to see her. She had told us a couple times she was coming down to Southern California to visit her son, but then we never saw her. I wonder if it was hard for her to keep in communication with me due to the fact that I was her deceased husband's sister. Maybe I reminded her of him too much or something. I am sad I didn't get to hang out with her again before she died.
Also, just a few months before Ruth passed away my Step Mother passed away. I didn't always get along with her, but she meant a lot to my Dad and I really feel for him. I know he misses her greatly and there is a hole in his heart right now. After my Step Mother dying and then Ruth dying I am done with family members dying! Good grief! I wonder some times, "Who's next?!" I hope this is the end of it for a while. I don't think I could take anymore!
For more positive news I just recently finished my third 1/2 marathon! February 2013 I ran the third one and got my "Beach Cities Challenge" medal. You have to run the OC 1/2, the Long Beach 1/2, and the Surf City 1/2 consecutively to qualify. I was sick for two weeks before this last race so I hadn't been running, and after mile 6 my right knee started hurting and I had to walk until mile 9. Then I started slowly jogging again and ran all the way straight to the end, mile 13.1! It took me 3 hours this time, it took me 2 hrs 28 min the previous two times. But I was just happy to complete the race and finish the challenge! Now I am dreaming about running a FULL marathon!! I started up a running day on Thursdays and am recruiting other women to run with me and prepare for either a full or half marathon too. I joined two women's running clubs and am talking to all my girlfriends who run at all on their own, hoping to make a nice sized running group out of them. It would be nice to have friends to train with. I trained for all my 1/2 marathons pretty much all on my own. Only occasionally did I have someone to run with.
My goal is to run a full marathon this time next year, at the Surf City Marathon in February 2014. I figured that would be long enough to work up my mileage and get use to running 18 miles (gulp!)... or even 20! A full marathon is 26.2 miles long, but you generally only work your way up to 18 or 20 miles at most before the big event. I hear the last 6 miles are the most difficult. I bet!! I feel like I am crazy for wanting to even try, but it feels good to go for a goal that is so big. I know I will feel awesome once I conquer it! And I think my brother Paul would be amazed and proud of me that I did that. I think he is already proud of me for finishing the Beach Cities Challenge. (I never was much of an athlete or very sporty while he was alive. Paul was a rock climber, a very intense rock climber.)
I would like to actually complete the Beach Cities Challenge again. I would start with the Long Beach 1/2, do the Surf City full, and end with the OC 1/2 in 2014. As long as Jason gets a job by this summer I can do it. It takes money to sign up for those events, and right now I don't have the money to pay for them. I got friends to sponsor the last two 1/2 marathons, so I didn't have to pay for them. That was awesome of them to help me out like that. When I do my full I want to ask people to sponsor me by donating to the Stand Up to Cancer foundation and dedicate my run to Paul. I think that would be cool. Especially if I got a good sized group to run with me and we all raised money for the foundation and ran in his honor. Wouldn't that be awesome?
Well, that's my long over due update for now. I hope to share more often in the future. Take care!
