A lot of December

December proved a very eventful month here in Holtontown. Ricky finished up his first term of grad school and managed to get all A's. We were relieved to have made it through and were looking forward to some quality relaxation time together over the holiday. Fortunately and unfortunately, I finally landed a job in the second week of December. It's not ideal. I never ever thought I would be a waitress, not that I look down on that line of work persay, I just always thought I would be horrible at it because I have no upper arm strength, am rather clumsy, and don't enjoy high stress situations. Anyway, since I'd been out of work for almost 4 months, I couldn't very well turn my nose up at some extra income in this city of high price tags. So I started a week of training at the Pasta Warehouse (this is a faux name, so I can rant about work if I need to later on). That week was hellish. Not only was I the only trainee without serving experience, I had to memorize the menu as well as the full bar (which was, for a Mormon girl like me, extremely challenging). I took my serving test and was thrown right into a busy Friday night just before Christmas as my first shift on my own. I survived and brought home decent tips as well.

We flew (drove) south that weekend to visit our dear Eugenian friends for the weekend. The trip was all together too short but lovely and worthwhile all the same. On the way back to Seattle that Sunday afternoon I started having weird stomach pain. To make a long story short, by Wednesday (the 21st)  my stomach and mid-back pain had grown so debilitating that I found myself in the doctor's office being diagnosed with a moderately advanced stomach ulcer. It hadn't worn a hole all the way through my stomach yet, but was fairly nasty. I spent the rest of the week resting and taking my medicine--what a Christmas bummer.

We travelled again to Salem for our annual four Christmases that weekend. Shortly after arriving Ricky started having a gastrointestinal nightmare along with a high fever. He spent Christmas eve in bed and hardly ate anything on Christmas day. All in all Christmas with our families was lovely but by the end of the weekend we both felt like we had been through the ringer.

Upon returning to work on Monday I was offered a bit of a promotion. Second week and a promotion? Yeah, I'm cool (just kidding). Anyways, now I am doing book keeping for the restaurant Mon-Fri 9-2 and making slightly more money an hour. I am still picking up serving shifts 1-2 nights a week as well, so I can still make decent tips.

Lastly, we sold my car yesterday. This was a very bittersweet event for me seeing as how it was the first and only car I had personally ever owned. I loved that car and I thanked it for its years of dutiful service.  She went to a good home. Now we can get a new car though, one that GOES! Go car, go!

Hopefully we can drive our new car into the new year with happiness and look forward to many great and wonderful things.

Soyons Heureux.