Die Buchwalds

Benig married for one year is pretty awesome. I imagine being married for around 75+ more will be pretty awesome too. I could say a lot of things about what has happened this year, but Amy said more of them, so you are going to get this little jig instead. *dances a jig* No, kidding. I suppose I can find something else to say.

Job hunting is less than fun. I’ve run into a few problems, which I shall list. There are a lack of “local” companies that I’ve found on the whole. There are also a lack of “non-local” companies that seem willing to look for candidates who aren’t “local.” I’m also fairly convinced that my degree program sucks because it doesn’t give me my BS degree until I’ve completed both it and the MS. Apparently I have a company in Monroeville that was interested in me, except that I didn’t technically have the BS yet. The job would help me flesh out and smooth out the thesis, and the thesis seems now required to get a job. It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s probably the only thing that’s really annoying in life.

So far this year I’ve learned how to cook various foods correctly, though I sure could expand my horizons. Along with this, Amy has gotten to enjoy the food, though I’m still working on the green beans and the rice. Someday I fear our kids will be doomed to eating nothing. I kind of enjoy cooking, though many times I don’t feel like doing it at all.

Working out at the Y has been quite cool, and I’m glad to have someone (Amy) who also has been going and trying to get in better shape, because it helps me to want to go. I think that’s the key of marriage: doing things together. And we’re pretty good at that, while still being able to do our own thing now and again.

I was going to post goal lists here, but Amy did that, and mine would sound something like: 1. Get this bloody thesis done so that I have a degree so that someone gives me a job so that we can have a white picket fence and eat a lot of yummy food and have fifty babies. 2. Have fifty babies. 3. Be rich. 4. Help the poor. 5. Invent time travel.

You have to admit, that would be pretty cool, right?

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While my husband is still asleep, I think I’ll write about him.
I think it’s safe to say that we survived our first year of marriage. If the first year of marriage is supposed to be really hard, then I can’t wait for the next few (I hear that year 7 is pretty awful, too)… they ought to be a breeze. For all the random bits of drama that dropped into our laps over the past year, I think we came out better on the other end.
Back in July I mentioned that we had a 3-month plan. Let me be the first to assure you that, after an entire year, we still haven’t accomplished that goal. I’ve been working the whole time, Matt did have a job for a little while but it interfered too much with his thesis work and his trying to find a real job, so that got the axe pretty quickly. He’s also still working on coming up with a good thesis topic, and the job search is slow. My job has gotten progressively better in the past year. Shortly after we got married, my department got an abundance of extra work to do, so we were on overtime for about 8 months. The overtime has finally gone away and we’re now allowed to work four 10-hour days, giving me a long weekend every week. It leaves me a lot more time to actually get things done, but the paycheck is a little lacking, so we’re back to looking at Matt getting another job. Call it 3-month plan, round 2.
We’re still working out how to make Fly Lady work for us. We take turns making sure the bed gets made, but I almost always forget on Fridays. And we recently decided that Fly Lady’s suggested shopping day works better as a laundry day for us. Shopping will now occur on Monday and Laundry on Thursday. We had been doing it the other way around, but we would slack off and not put away the clothes until Friday anyway. Matt still does nearly all of the cooking, but I think I’m going to start to try to change that (see end of post).
With my new found “extra” time, I’ve started to work on my scrapbooks again. It’s been really great. We cleaned up some floor space, so now I can bring my table in from the spare room and set it up so that I have crafting space but I can still use the computer to print things out when I need them. I didn’t get to work last weekend because we were away, and I’m sure I won’t today, and I miss it already. I’m definitely looking forward to next weekend.
Because dear old Grove City lacks excitement, we spend a lot of time watching DVDs from Netflix. We just finished the entire first season of Star Trek: TNG and we’ve been getting caught up on “classics” that we should have seen long ago. Last week, we finally saw Steel Magnolias in its entirety. My next project is to make sure that Matt gets to see The Parent Trap.
We also got ourselves a membership to the Y. I used to go three times a week at 6am, but with my new work schedule I can’t do that anymore, so I’m still trying to readjust when and how often I go.
Probably the best thing about this year is that Matt is finally Catholic for real. No more of that wishy-washy “my Dad was raised Catholic” stuff. I think it worked out really well that we were able to split this year between my old parish (we taught 5th grade CCD) and our new parish (we attended the RCIA classes together). I needed some transition time because I’m so darn attached to that little church in Evans City. I’m still not ready to give up the homemade rootbeer in July, but I think I’m ready to get more involved up here and kind of leave my roots behind.
These past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about what our next year will bring, and I came up with a few resolutions. In no particular order…

New Years Resolutions:

(just for me)
1. Cook on the weekends
2. Help Matt with his job search, instead of just pestering him.
3. Work hard to get caught up on my scrapbooks. (I have SEVEN in progress at the moment)
4. Keep going to the Y for aerobics. Maybe try water aerobics.
5. Finally watch Gone With the Wind.
6. Finish reading Paul’s book.
7. Find a new volunteer activity.

(for us)
1. Spend some time as true DINKs and build up our savings account
2. After Matt gets a job, buy a house, or at least find a bigger apartment.
3. Move all the rest of our stuff out of our parents’ and grandparents’ houses.
4. Top Secret Special Project

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