PerNoWriMo

Hey! Sorry no updates! Been busy! Wedding is in like... 21 days!! Looks like the only thing God has yet to put into place, is the money needed for it. LOL. But I trust that he will provide... He'll drive me nuts about it cause that's what he's good at, but indeed He will provide. I'm just dense enough to forget that he's done so every month in the past.

So if you're wondering what the heck my blog title is, it's NaWriYe in the way that NaNoWriMo is in November. Every year, in November, writers across america commit to writing 1000 words or more a day in the moth of november so that at the end of the month you've written a 50000 word novel. Which, I might add, is incorrect mathematically. You would need to write more than 1000 words on at least 20 days of november to meet your goal. Well... I missed nanowrimo (national novel writing month) so I'm going to make a year of Panawrimo. In which for one month I will try to complete 1 50000 word story, and if I don't complete that story it's scratched and I'll start anew on the first of the new month. Hopefully, I'll be all ready to go come Nanowrimo next year! And, I'm dragging Matty in on it then! *evil laugh*

I think I'll start a new blog and link it here where I'll store my PerNoWriMo stories (Personal novel writing months) and that link should go here. For the month of December, my story for PerNoWriMo is about a young girl, Stacey,(sorry stacey, DRE made up her name!!) who is trying to deal with her best friend's death, which she unwittingly caused. It's actually not so bad right now. Unfortunitly I started it today, on the 6th, so it most probably will not be a full 50000 word story... in fact the first few might not get there... but I'm hoping to expand my writting skill by doing so, and maybe even keep up with this blog too. Link to stories to come!


My Monthly Stories

Thank Goodness It's Friday

So it's friday, meaning I am done with work for the week... and Matt works tomorrow and I'm going shopping with mom for wedding stuff. You know, those small things you need that you overlook and then realize you don't have money for in the budget? Flowers,  Flower girl basket, ring bearer pillow, shoes, hair accessories, unity sand ceremony kit, cameras, ect. I'm looking forward to that.

I don't have much to write about today though. Met with my manager and talked about if this job is right for me and all that. it's not like I have a choice. But it's made me think about what kind of job I DO want and I keep coming back to books. So I applied at Borders. Will see about that I suppose.

I started up a sister-blog to this with is more 'blurb' orinated. Should have updates near daily. Its just about how awesome parts of my day are. I suppose I'll update with a "why today is awesome" there too whenever I get around to making my video.

I can't tell you how absolutly THRILLED I am to have the internet back. I missed it SOOO much!!

I don't have much else to say though... so till next time,

DFTBA

Almost Done Addressing Invitations!

o not much happened today. I got my October scorecard at work. Which means my manager is on top of things this month. I'm oddly at peace now though. That's not good... I didn't make goal again this month (goal was 37 and I did 30 per hour- which is 80% of goal and thus "inconsistant) and apparently I'm still talking too much... that's depressing... but the fact of the matter is that as I did not make goal in October, I can't work overtime or hit incentive for November.... and November is the last month before my wedding. As paychecks pay for the previous 2-weeks of work, this means that I have no chance of making extra money before the wedding. This fact, while it brings along the stress of "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?!" is also rather calming because, hey, if I make goal this month, I can eventually make money and use it to live on... but as for as the wedding goes, I'm out of luck. No stress (on if I make goal or not).

The OTHER bad part about not making goal is that it means I get no raise next year. which sucks. majorly. But there's also nothing I can do about that... maybe might be able to get a job elsewhere.... but at least I'm not stressing over that now.

The suckier part of that is that in reality it will be like taking a voluntary pay CUT next year as I will be paying for dental and vision insurance for both Matt and myself... and 2-people insurances cost more than 1-person coverage. So by not getting a raise and insurring both Matt and myself, in essence I am taking a paycut. which sucks more cause I'm still under 9 dollars an hour.

Which, I can't afford to do... so I'll be praying that God finds a solution to this little financial conundrum.

We're still waiting for word as to if Matt gets on at Staples or not... we are now told that we will know by Monday, so keep praying on that front. In totally positive news, Matt did get some hours tonight and works tomorrow and Saturday.

As for me, I am ALMOST done with addressing my-side's wedding invitations. I think I have 9 left... 3 my mother just sent me and 5-6 that Amanda is supposed to be getting me by tomorrow... So the invites SHOULD be in the mail... by the end of next week.. I don't exactly have the money required to buy stamps for them to be sent this week.

I am PSYCHED about having the internet again... and there are now 53 days till the wedding!

that's NOT much time to get the money needed... not at all...

well, anyways, till next time,

DFTBA

Back On THe Net Again!

So major news today, I got the internet back!!! For those of you who know me only by the internet, or otherwise only find out about my current status by the internet alone, this is the major news for you. I don't know if I said it before or not, but basically the internet was taken away from me at Carolyn's shortly before I got kicked out/moved out.

Well October 27th I got moved into the new apartment. It's awesome! Five minutes from work means that I get to sleep a bit more than I'm used to, specifically on the normal days when Matt drives me to work and drops me off. Rent was due on the first of November...and I managed to pay it. I still have to pay carolyn for last month.. which is a pain.. I would rather not pay. I mean, she short-cut the agreement... but that doesn't look like an option so I guess I'll take care of that next paycheck.

So we got the apartment all put together really quickly, thanks majorly to my amazing Matty. He did a ton of work while I worked, since his job hasn't given him many hours recently. He only has like 12 hours schedueled this week... last week he might have had ten. So that's a bit tough. But the extra time allowed him to clean up the setteling-in mess and get stuff nice and pretty while I worked.

Also, on the positive side, last week he applied to Staples and had two interviews with them. We should find out tomorrow if he is hired or not. If he is, we'll get a paycheck every week... if not then... well... I suppose life will be the same heck it is now.

Anyways, today the internet was finally installed at the apartment so while that IS one more bill I have to pay come the end of the month, at least now I can pay all my other bills and keep track of my finances and stuff. I missed my internet sooo much. and our internet is fast too! And the only ones limiting what we do on it is the government and ourselves. That is AWESOME.

LEss than 2 months left! and there's a BUTTLOAD of stuff I still have to aquire/do before then... YAY!

Till next time,
DFTBA

Post Update!

Hey guys! So I havn't updated in a week or so cause my internet time has been severely limited. First Jeremy changed his password so that my computer was not connected to the internet, and then he said that Matt couldn't stay, so we applied for the new apartments and then on Monday I got approved to move in!

After I got approved, Carolyn got upset at whatever it was that made her upset and basically that night we moved my bed, refrigerator, clothes, books, everything out of the apartment and back to either my mom's house or ninny's house to store it until October 27th, when I can move into my new apartment. So that's this Tuesday. Shortly after that we should be back on the internet as per usual.

In the meantime, I've been staying with my Ninny since she is amazingly kind and wonderful enough to allow both Matt and I to stay here. This was my number one concern because we both need the car to get back and forth to work. Well, actually he neeeds the car more than I do because my aunt is so nice as to give me a ride to work all week last week so that I don't have to use the gas, as it is still about 20 minutes from Ninny's to Citi.

Things actually went a LOT smoother than I could have hoped. I went to my mom's to pick up some containers for packing, as was planned and she volunteered "Shayna, do you need us to come get your stuff until you can move into the new apartment. You could live here a few days" But in the end she and dad and Uncle David all came to the aparment and packed up all my stuff so that I could go and live with ninny for the inbetween time.

The only thing that I'm slightly worried about is the rent. Matt's job is in questionable standing as his body does not deal well with heat and we've not got the money to get him checked out... so he gets sick when he overheats and for that reason has been sick quite a lot and we're kinda crossing our fingers that he gets to keep his job. But  there's also the possibillity that he might be able to get a job at staples. so if you are reading this please keep that in your prayers.

A little over 2 months until the wedding! And mom has made matt quite... hesitant on that... he now feels guilty and although he says he wants a wedding, it's hard for me to believe it... adn for some unknown reason it's really really important to me. Though I half-way wish that I didn't care... but I do... so I suppose for the time being, the weddding it still on, I can still be excited about it... and the money will... hopefully, fall into place as needed.

Till next time,
DFTBA

Guess What I Got!

Well I'm still waiting on the word as to if I can move into the new apartments... hopefully I'll get that tomorrow... but in the meantime the two other things I was waiting on today went great!

1- I got my paycheck! so that's that- as long as I work at Citi I won't have to worry about the mess up with paychecks and auto deposit again.

2- I got my wedding invitations! Started addressing them... that will take a while... but I got them! and I'm QUITE happy with them.

The last few days I've been listening to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

Moving Out... Again...

So I went to work today, and found out that bankcards in now back up and running and so I spent all day on verifying old affs I'd already verified a week ago, and continued verifying affidavits we'd just processed. I was exhausted at the end of the day, as per usual, but I had premarital counseling to go to... so I came back to the apartment, picked Matt up and we went to the church to meet with the pastor.

Only he didn't show. So we went to my Ninny's for a wonderful dinner of homemade potato soup and popcorn chicken. After dinner we got back to the apartment to find out Jeremy had changed the password to the internet network... which sucked... then Jeremy asked to talk to Matt (thank God he went to a different room for that) and said that while I could stay, Matt cannot.

Which... I'm sure Jeremy and Carolyn think is easy enough, Matt moves out and whatnot... but it's a LOT more complicated than that. Matt has a job, but no car... and his mother no longer works over here anymore... he's been told by his mom that he needs to be out of the house, and so him being allowed to move back in itself is a questionable possibility... but even IF he did that, he'd need a car to get to work, as would i... basically meaning every day he'd have to come and get me and take me to work, go back to his house, come and pick me up from work, go to his work, go back home... rinse, lather repeat... and we CANNOT afford 1- to put that many miles on the car or 2- to put that much gas in the car... so that idea is not possible.

Our next option, and most favorable, is to apply at Unicorn Apartments, and move in there. This is a fairly straight-forward option, however it's problems involve the cost. It's a 20 dollar application fee for each of us, (40 dollars) a 150 dollar deposit to reserve the room if we are approved. After that it's 280 a month. Which is just barely possible... it's more-possible now that I've took my cell phone and reduced it to 450 minutes per month.

So... please pray we get approved... if we can't get into Unicorn... I don't know what we are going to do....

Till next time,
DFTBA

Marriage, Sex, and Fun Stuff The Institutional Church Has Opinions On

I DO WANT YOUR FEEDBACK! I do however, wish that you would abide by these rules in commenting-

• Scripture is the final word- Scripture. The meaning of the scripture as it was written... which may or may not be your interpretation of it
• Do NOT just quote Scripture, explain yourself 
• Think your post through before clicking Comment.
• Comments are NOT to be deleted.
• You are NOT to maliciously attack anyone- myself included. The beauty of a blog and the United States, is freedom of speech.
• NO redundant arguments or made up statistics- If you use not-well-known facts, link to the source, and if stats come in, link those as well
• Be original- I want your thoughts/intelligence of this.. not spit-back of what I've already been told and can probably quote back more of it to you than you can tell me. 

Ok, that all settled? GOOD! On with my thoughts/studies. 

First of all as I began looking into all the scriptures quoted in our premarital counseling book, Preparing for Marriage by David Boehi, Brent Nelson, Jeff Schulte, and Llyod Shadrach I noticed that for all their inclusiveness on 'purity' and 'holiness' and 'immorality' and 'godlessness', while discussing the issue of Sexual intimacy, they never referred back to Songs of Solomon. This seems noteworthy to me... why leave out the one book totally devoted to showing us how God feels about sexual relationships? 

Before I continue on with that.. there are some important questions that must be answered first.

1- What is marriage?  -For the purposes of this blog, I"m going with my personal definition of marriage, which is similar to Webster's definition. with an added twist. and that's this. Marriage is a covenantal, life-long relationship between and man and woman and God.  If you disagree with this definition, please provide a working definition in your reply, and include why you think my definition is not correct. 

2- What does it mean to be holy? - "Holy" is from the Greek word that means "separated... or set apart for a sacred purpose.

Ok... so given that information, lets proceed with the topic.

So the first thing that made me want to write all this out is the reasons frequently given for 'saving sex till marriage' (note- I am NOT saying this isn't a good idea... if you want a mission-statement for this blog is to figure out whether or not the church places too much emphasis on this. If I'm to live by it, I don't want it to be just another rule the institutional church comes up with that sidetracks us from really living life as God intended.)

So the reasons given (as quoted from the book) 

1- You affirm that you care more for the other person than you do yourself.

2. You protect yourself from feelings of guilt and shame

3.You are protected from emotional, mental, and physical trauma should you break off your relationship.

4. You discover more about each other than just the physical.

5. You maintain a witness to a lost world. 

There are several others, many of which Im sure we all have heard, but I"m gonna hit on those five.

You affirm that you care more for the other person than you do yourself

       Ok. I had several issues with this one. The first of which is that from all my study, sexual intimacy is about what you can do for the other person, to meet their needs, and not your own. So please explain to me how abstaining from sex before marriage proves this. I could almost say, if two people thought opposite ways, that the person who would not be sexually intimate with their fiance because they thought it was wrong and thus prevented the two of them from being sexually intimate, he or she is caring more about herself. Now, that's not a rock-solid case... but the point is that sex in marriage isn't supposed to be selfish. And it is true that abstaining from sexual intimacy before marriage is a good idea, in most circumstances, it is a great idea! But, I would say that it is not beneficial in all circumstances. 

You protect yourself from feelings of guilt and shame

  major problem with this one- With the way we are taught "sex is bad" all the way till marriage.. it's not easy to take that training and toss it aside just cause "you said I Do." 

You are protected from emotional, mental, and physical trauma should you break off your relationship.

   My thoughts here- if a relationship seriosuly under consideration of marriage/is commited to each other, with or without sex you will still suffer from it.. and not necessarily minor sufferage either.

You discover more about each other than just the physical.

Well... I'd argue to say that if this becomes an issue... there's a bigger issue than premarital sex in the relationship.

You maintain a witness to a lost world.

And this all rests on Christianity being about a list of do's and don'ts. Which, while that is totally another topic altogether... Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus Christ who was crucified and rose again to free us from death's grip.

and as I'm lazy and getting tired, I'll leave it at that for now. comment with thoughts.

till next time, DFTBA

I Missed A Day!

Sorry I missed a day!  O well, it's not like I forgot today too.

So today was my little cousin's birthday party! He turned four a few weeks ago but the party was supposed to be on my bridal shower day, so my aunt rescheduled it for this week instead. It was fun. We all went to Pizza Hut and then we went back to Ninny's house cause he wanted to break open a pinata. That was a lot of fun. I'm tired so... I'll update more tomorrow...


Till next time,
DFTBA

Wow... I Can't Think of a Title Today

Hey guys!

So I can't think of much to write today. Work was a nice relaxed day, I sorted statements all day as the system was down. The significantly fun thing about that was that Sears and private lable stuff got back into production, but as I was bank I have to wait till sometime tomorrow probably before I restart on verification and all that normal stuff.

After work Matt and I went and picked up a stamp and inkpad to use instead of stickers, and some stamps, and a little bit of food. Then I came back and finished up my thank you notes. Which... took longer than expected... cause I forgot I was dealing with wet ink and stacked them up totallly causing a red/white tye-dyeish look on about six of the envelopes... so I opened them and re-put them in a different, clean, envelope which I was smart enough not to stack until the ink had time to drive. I'm very happy with my thank you cards now though! and they go in the mail- tomorrow!

Then Matt went to work, and then I took a bubble bath, now I'm blogging... that is pretty much my entire day but I don't wanna skip a day.

So I was thinking, so long as I'm updatin daily... maybe I should have a special-posts day where I talk about some subject. I think I'll make that Friday. So tomorrow instead of any updates or whatever, I'll discuss something imporant.  Comment back with ideas for topics. otherwise you'll get to enjoy some intresting things on time travel and time itself and things I am currently thinking about that day. So... there's my idea and I'm out of things to say.

Till next time,

DFTBA

80 days left till the wedding