Done got me a job

HI! I just got done with an interview at a temp agency this afternoon. Excitingly, they have a job for me already. It is working for a company who finances small personal loans, and I start on Monday. The job title is "Bankruptcy Assistant". The job isn't quite what I was looking for salary-wise, but it is a start. I will know more when I get there.

Sooo...thank you all for your prayers. I really appreciate them!
Melinda

Not in Virginia anymore, ToTo...

....or Wisconsin, for that matter. I'm here in Greenville, SC. Yup. Sunny South Carolina. Here I am. Not only that, I live less than a mile and a half from Bob Jones University. Actually, Stephanie "and I" have a really cute one bedroom apartment. Holy Canoli! You should see all of the stuff in that place. BUT, Stephanie and her fiance (Hugh -- nice guy!) are closing on the house they are buying on Wednesday. They are getting married on March 1, so by then I will have the place all to myself. I think Stephanie and I are going to start moving her stuff next week. So....if anyone is in the Greenville area and needs a place to stay, give me a call. I'd love to have you here!!

Other than that, things are going well. By tomorrow afternoon, I will have had 5 interviews -- 4 at temp agencies. With all of that "exposure" I'm really hoping/praying to get a job and start working very VERY soon. In the interim, the Lord is and has been meeting all of my needs, so I'm very greatful for that.

Well....it's almost time for me to head to the next appointment. I hope to hear from you soon. My phone number is the same, so give me a call ok???

HUGS!!
Melinda

Virtual Stamp Night

For all of you stampers out there, tonight and tomorrow are Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoast Stampers. It's sooo much fun -- there is a card challenge posted ever hour. You have 45 minutes to complete your card. It's sooo fun to see how many different things people come up with for the same challenge.

This VSN, the theme is Girls' Night Out. All of the challenges center around things we like to do with our Girlfriends.

Sooo....I kick started VSN with my own challenge. It goes like this:

Title: Circle of Friendship

Hostess: Melinda (WonkaIsMyCat)

Keyword: JAN08VSNA

Day/Date: Friday, January 18thTime: 6:00 PM EST

Girlfriends are always there when we need them, and what would we do without their support??My challenge to you is to make a card honoring your circle of girlfriends. And not just ANY card. A CIRCLE card. And not just any circle card, a circle card using the sketch below. Fun huh? Yeah…I thought so too.

If you don’t know how to make a circle card, it’s easy. Take a piece of cardstock, fold it in half, and trace a circle on it (a bowl or large spool of ribbon works really well for this). Make sure the circle overlaps the fold of the card slightly. Then just cut it out!Have fun!!!

Here is the sketch I came up with:

And here are my samples:

If you would like to see the other cards made for my challenge, click HERE

Smiles and Giggles

Mom, Dad and I went over to the Smith's house last night. Cynthia was, as usual, being adorable. AND THEN do you know what happened?? She got attacked by this big, green blob - sounding somewhat like a deranged Chihuahua. Ok yes -- apparently, I will suffer public humiliation in the interest of Cynthia.

Enjoy!

Bold and Bright

Wow -- I can't believe January is halfway over....and I have been such a slacker about posting.

BUT -- 2008 is turning out to be an interesting year already. Dad is doing much better since the surgery. Thanks so much to everyone for their prayers and support, and for all of the cards he got. They were SUCH an encouragement to him. The card to the left is the giant car that I made for dad while he was in the hospital. It's 12x12 and all of the church peopl signed it for his birthday.

Things on the job front are looking up, too. I have decided to move to Greenville, SC. My friend, Stephanie, offered to let me stay with her for a while, so that's what I'm going to do. Actually, I already have 5 job interviews lined up - 3 are at temp agencies, 1 is at BJU, and 1 is at a Christian school about an hour away. PLUS, I taked to Stephanie's landlord this week and he said that there shouldn't be a problem with letting me have her apartment.....Stephanie is getting married on March 1.

For you stamping people out there, I also achieved a major "accomplishment" in the stamping world. I reached 20,000 posts on the Splitcoast Stampers website. That means I got to choose my own stamping name. My friend Michellle (eliotstamps) picked out Bold and Bright -- because I "love bold colors and have such a fun personality". Thanks, Michelle....I love it!!

As you can see, I have also had a chance to do some stamping lately....and I'm so glad. It really is one of my favorite things to do, and I've missed it a lot since moving to VA.

I'm hoping to get more done as soon as I move, too...my stamps miss me!!

To find out more about how I made any of these cards, visit my SCS Gallery.

Have a BOLD AND BRIGHT new year!!

Update on Dad, and a card request

Here is an update/card request for my dad. I know some of this is redundant information, but I thought I'd just put it all together for you.

On December 8 he had a minor heart attack and had a stent put on the December 10th, and was scheduled to have triple bypass surgery on sometime around the middle of January. Due to the procedure, Dad was not able to go to my brother's wedding -- in Virginia, they live in Wisconsin -- and that was really, really hard on him.

Last night, Dad was having some chest pain and so Mom brought him to the emergency room. They decided to keep him overnight for observation. When the doctor came in this morning, he decided to keep Dad in the hospital until the surgery, which will be moved up -- we are waiting to hear back from the surgeon on that one.

My poor dad....he is going to be in the hospital on his birthday, January 1, waiting for open heart surgery, which will probably be on January 2...although we are not sure yet.
ANYWAYS - Dad is feeling pretty sad at the thought of being in the hospital for at least the next week and a half. My family is getting together a card shower and I was wondering -- Would you be so kind as to help us out??? I/we/he would really really appreciate it!!
Cards can be sent to:

James McMillen

c/o Saint Clare's Hospital

Room 2373

400 Ministry ParkwayWeston, WI 54476

A couple of hints:
Dad is a very conservative Baptist pastor

• His name is James, but he goes by Freddy
• His favorite color is blue
• Dad grew up on a farm and LOVES horses

Most imporantly, we appreciate your prayers during this time. The Lord has given our family some very specific challenges to deal with, but God's grace is MORE THAN SUFFICIENT to meet our needs.

Thanks so much. I will be sure to keep you updated on the status of how things are going.

Blogging from the hospital

But don't worry - I'm not the sick one. Dad was having some chest pain that wouldn't go away yesterday, so Mom took him to the emergency room. They decided to keep him overnight for observation....which is probably a good thing. If nothing else, he will be seeing the surgeion this morning, which will take the place of his January 3 appointment. We are hoping that they will schedule his surgery now instead of having to wait. We appreciate your prayers for Dad...he is having a lot of stress with the whole surgery thing, I think. Well...I don't really blame him. I was nervous when I went and got my wisdom teeth extracted. I can't imagine what it would be like to wait for triple bypass surgery. Eeek!!

In other news, our family had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Mom and I watched Cynthia because her mommy and daddy had to go to work. That was so much fun -- Cynthia is such a cute baby. No, really -- she is. ANYWAYS.....after everyone was off work, we went over to Josh and Shannon's house and had a very yummy dinner. Shannon made pork chops with this savory gravy stufff, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Super tasty!! Then, we all told the Christmas story to Cynthia. Each person told her part of it, and we passed her around. It was fun. Cynthia (and everyone else, too) got to open her presents.

On Christmas Day, we had a big turkey dinner at Mom and Dad's house. Yummy! After dinner, we played Clue DVD and had more trauma with Dad and his heart....he wasn't feeling very well then, and we ended up calling his doctor, who adjusted one of his medications some.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got to stay with Cynthia all day. She and I had a pajama party all day -- it was soo much fun!! I'm sure you uncles and aunts will understand this -- but I just love that little girl so much. I don't even know how to describe it. She is soooo adorable!! It's been fun to watch her over the past two weeks or so that we've been together. She is really holding her head up very well now, and has discovered her hands. When someone talks to Cynthia, she tries to move her mouth and do the same thing. It's soooo funny!! She is always smiling, and then when someone talks to her she gets an EVEN BIGGER smile. What a little heart breaker. I'm so happy for Josh and Shannon -- they really have a very sweet and happy baby.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I don't have my camera with at the hospital, or I would post some pics. Have a great day, though!!