She is clothed with strength and dignity

Amanda. 35. Traveler. Child of God. Wife. Mom. Homeschooling. Getting fit. I blog about: wife/mom life, food, fitness, and things. Venmo: @akcoutu 

[the-littlelady]

Got a rejection email yesterday after that interview. Honestly hurt a little bit.

But I got back on the saddle and applied for 2 more jobs with that same company. Eventually they’re going to get tired of seeing my name (this will make 4 different positions I’ve applied for with them).

The first time I only got through the application and first round of assessments.

The second time I got through the application, assessments, and an interview.

Hopefully that means I’ll make it further with the next one. They go…

-Application Review

-Assessments

-Interview

-More assessments

-Second interview

-Offer/onboarding process

I do like the company, and actually use some of their videos/curriculum in homeschooling. It would be a perk to get that curriculum access for free as an employee lol.

I also applied for a content writer position with a Christian women-focused company (devotionals, articles, etc). And I have another application pulled up on my computer for a different content writer position.

Trying hard to find something. Like come on… someone has to want this brain.

[the-littlelady]

I haven’t been on here since April. Not mad about it.

Life has been busy. We’ve decided to officially stay in NC at our house in the mountains. Michael has a job an hour away that makes nothing but it’s in the mental health field and it can double as clinical hours later.

Girl child has had some weird head pains lately which have me freaked out (bc clearly the only explanation is cancer). I applied for medical assistance so we can get that checked out. They called me today and are working through my application so we’ll see!

I also had a job interview yesterday that has full health benefits so if the medical assistance doesn’t work out, maybe the job will. It’s remote and a little flexible. I’d like to be able to make money for our family while Michael finishes up his masters program, especially with clinical hours. (I also don’t like the idea of relying on assistance so trying to make that not a thing but we’ll use it if we need to.)

Homeboy turned 8 this weekend, which is crazy. We spent all weekend at the lake with friends who were visiting.

Smallest homeboy is wild and fun and cute and crazy.

We’ve made a little bit of money from our marriage website stuff, which is awesome. But we’re no where near paying the bills lol. Maybe one day!

We’re working on our garden life, self sufficiency, and more. Just trying to improve life and health by doing all the things at home that we can. And still eating CFA sometimes lol.

We’re still technically renting out our home so next week we’re camping, which will be fun! Not too far from home bc Michael has to work but we’ll still make time to hike.

Anyways. That’s life.

[the-littlelady]

Tonight marks night 2 of no substances to help me sleep. No alcohol. No gummies. Just some water after a Dr Pepper zero lol.

Alcoholism runs STRONG in my family. I’ve felt myself slipping down that path a few times over the last few years due to life events— turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Most recently this week, though it’s become a nightly social thing with my husband. The problem is I take it too far every time and then I realized I was relying on it. Realizing that I felt like I had to have a drink to sleep, and not just one drink. Drinking until I feel it, plus some.

I have lofty healthy goals that won’t be met by drinking every night. I want to get back to the girl I was a years ago who rarely drank ever— maybe once or twice a month.

Lofty health goals plus wanting to not pass on this terrible trait to my own kids are my focus in this. My dad, brother, and sister are all for sure alcoholics. My mom was riding the line for a while for sure. My biological paternal grandfather was also an alcoholic, choosing to be sober at some point in life. My biological paternal grandmother was also likely an alcoholic (she died from cancer when I was 8 but I know she was into the beers). My step-grandfather (paternal) died from his alcoholism.

It’s gotta stop somewhere… right??

Not to say I’m done drinking for forever. But I’m definitely going to keep it mindful. Keep it to special social occasions or a date night with my husband… not just a random Thursday night.

Anyways. I never post, then come on here and drop random stuff, just to disappear again for a while.

Happy April.

[the-littlelady]

We have family visiting us. My brother and his family (SIL, 14yo niece, 9yo nephew).

My SIL has been weird and stand offish most of the time. Like, went to their room after we got home from dinner and didn’t come out again.

My niece has been fine. Your normal teenager.

My nephew is getting on my nerves a little, but I generally don’t really like kids (I love my own, and I will love my family, but I don’t *like* kids).

I heard my nephew bad mouthing Moana 2, a movie my kids have been excited to watch on Disney (they saw it in theaters with my parents). He’s like, “Ew… I don’t watch Moana. It’s not cool” and other crap. And then SUDDENLY my son tells me, “I actually don’t like movies like this…”

😐🤨😑😑

I’m like my guy…. Yes you do. And that’s ok. Do not let the opinions of someone else change what you like. What you think is cool IS cool.

And I didn’t say, “tell him HE’S not cool”, bc that’s not good parenting. But I wanted to lol.

Anyways. Little rant.

[the-littlelady]

The Making of Marriage

If you’ve been following a little bit, my husband and I started a marriage thing. We wrote a few Valentine’s Day focused posts, and I wrote two for dates specifically.

1). Budget friendly at home date nights

2). Budget friendly out of the house date nights

If you’re still wondering what to do for Vday, maybe we can help! Check out the posts linked above :)

[the-littlelady]

Whomp whomp. Got *another* rejection email. Am I just too qualified? lol. Like, this job was basic… I think you barely needed a college degree? And I was a teacher with a masters.

Anyways. Back to the drawing board. Waiting for more rejections lol.

[the-littlelady]

GoodReads v. StoryGraph

Anyone have a preference? pros/cons of each? I’ve been using GoodRead, and I do feel like it could be a little better. Just some things I don’t love, like the fact that you can’t DNF a book.

I just downloaded StoryGraph and I’m feeling it out.

Also, started listening to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo yesterday. I’m already 27% of the way through. Good book. I like it.

[the-littlelady]

We’re living that “no income travel life” right now, which is stressful. My husband is in school for his masters and I don’t want him to take on even more weight… so I applied for this 20hr a week job for an online education website… and I got a response the same day inviting me to the next step.

I did that next step assessment thing and now I’m anxiously awaiting the next email, which will hopefully be good news.

It seems like a pretty easy job and I think it would be easy enough to not take too much brain effort or commitment. I’ve seen so many great jobs online that I think I’d like but they’re full time remote jobs and I can’t commit to that and continue to homeschool and live in a camper lol.

Anyways. Wish me luck!

[the-littlelady]

I can’t remember if I posted it here and I’m not scrolling back to look.

I do remember posting that Michael and I started a marriage focused IG. But we do have the website to go with it now!

So if you’re not following on IG, please do!

And check out our website while you’re at it! :)

www.themakingofmarriage.com

[the-littlelady]

Play date this morning at a local park and I’m going to complain/rant for half a second.

We’re at a fenced in playground— 4 moms, 14 kids for our group. And there were a handful of other parents/kids there.

Multiple homeless people coming in and using the facilities bc there’s a public (gross but still) bathroom within the park. People gotta pee. I get it. My church has a warming shelter just up the road so there are more homeless people in the area than usual bc they’re just waiting until the shelter opens. They gotta hang around somewhere— walking around town and stuff. I do not fault them for that at all.

But one man started approaching moms at the park. A playground… a place that is usually just women and their young children. And like… wtf?

Thankfully my husband just so happened to stop by and was hanging with us. He stepped in between the man and our group (which included multiple babies, a pregnant lady, and a gaggle of kids all age 1-7).

He was looking for a hand out, which I get. I gave him a cheese stick and $2. Not usually my thing but I felt like following the internal prompting. He said he needed a couple bucks to go to McDonald’s to get a burger so he could take his diabetes meds. Idc what he does with the $2 bc I know where my heart was when I gave it.

But then he went to another lady and like… you’ve just gotta know that approaching moms at a park is not the right move. Right??

I’m in protection mode when it’s me and my kids. I’m ready to kick some ass, ya know?

And Michael volunteered at the warming shelter last winter— he said he recognized the man. So he knows the resources available to him in the area. And if he was playing dumb, idk, but now he knows that the warming shelter is opened for tonight (he acted like it wasn’t a place anyone could stay overnight… despite staying before) with hot food, a shower, and a bed.

Anyways. I know I’m not wrong for being like “wtf” in this situation. Approaching moms at a park is just not the right choice. And then, even with my husband there, I was on guard and watching all these kids even more closely.

Merp. Rant or whatever done.

[the-littlelady]

Crowdsourcing.

I need to find seamless socks for my girl child. Ones on Amazon claim to be seamless but there’s a clear seam (or details don’t specify). Her socks bothering her feet is a daily (exhausting) discussion. Anyone have any that don’t bother their kids??? I need a link ASAP.

[the-littlelady]

Re: my last post

It’s my birthday. My wonderful husband made plans. I gave him my friends’ numbers to make the plans. All were in… until yesterday.

So it turned into a double date with one of my bffs and her husband. One person had sickness hit her husband and children, understandable. One is a midwife in training and had to assist in a birth— ok, I get that. The other isn’t from the area and her nursing baby scratched her eye, now it’s hard to see. Ok, permissible. The other two… lame excuses. Can’t leave their children with the men they married for a few hours. That’s just… disappointing. You had weeks to make arrangements. I’ve been talking about this since August.

This happens every year. Every year of my life. And you’d think it would suck less after dealing with it for ever 3 decades. But it doesn’t.

It just sucks to have a birthday so close to Christmas.

Love your kids and friends with Christmas-ish birthdays, please. It sucks.

[the-littlelady]

The thing about friends in adulthood is that you really know who your friends are.

The people who will give up their time, regardless of what it costs them, are the true friends.

I often find myself wondering, “are we actually friends or are we just good for playdates?”

I get that things come up. I know life is crazy. But if you truly care about a friendship, you’ll make things happen.

Trying to be very *open handed* when it comes to friends these days. I often get too invested and then I’m hurt when they’re not as invested. But I’m trying to not be. I’ll invest but once you show you’re not as invested, that’s fine. It just lets me know what level of friends we really are. Maybe that’s true friends, maybe we’re just friends for good playdates. I’m ok with either, but I’m not exhausting myself.

[the-littlelady]

What are people getting their 2 year old who’s not a first child?

This kid literally just loves mangatiles and dirt. He’ll run with a ball, so I’m sure I’ll get him that. But really… he doesn’t play with anything that his siblings don’t already have.

Thinking a special magnatile themed set… and snacks? But that’s all I got lol.

Poor 3rd kid. Just goes with the flow and is happy to be here haha.

[the-littlelady]

My husband and I just finished “House of Sky and Breath” and I am REEEEELING. And now we cannot listen to the 3rd book until he listens to all of the ACOTAR books.

I literally just told him, “This is my Marvel universe”. 😂😂

Anyways. Happy Tuesday.

[the-littlelady]

Anyone have a kid who got a concussion at 2 and chooses to live life right in the edge of death every day who grew up to be a doctor or something? Lol

My youngest will be the one that gives me all the grey hairs.

Like, please stop hitting your head and falling out/off of things. I’d like you to see adulthood. Thanks.

[the-littlelady]

Hey.

My husband and I are doing a thing.

We finally launched our IG. Website is… in the works. I’m no website designer but I’m working on it.

Anyways.

Please follow. Share. Interact. Enjoy. Give feedback. ♥️

Michael & Amanda (@themakingofmarriage) • Instagram photos and videos

24 Followers, 26 Following, 5 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Michael & Amanda (@themakingofmarriage)