The Glorious Life of Unemployment

So for those of you who don't know, I lost my job two weeks ago. The last two weeks have been tough for us, especially me. I'm not going to bore you with the details of what happened but just know it was stupid and unfair. This is the first time I have ever not had a job since I started working at 16. I was really upset the first few days because it was so sudden and unexpected. I was hurt and mad for a while. But I started job hunting right away. It was kinda fun the first week to hang out at home all day. I could stay in my pj's all day and no one cared. I could do just about anything I wanted as long as I looked for a job. But the last few days I have gotten so over this. I just want to have a job. At first I was worried that it will be like this when I have kids and stay home with them. But then I realized there is no way I will ever have this much free time once I have kids!! I am looking forward to next week because I already have 3 interviews scheduled. I'm also dreading waking up Monday morning and starting another week without a job. I wish we were super rich so I could spend all my free time shopping and getting pampered. I've never realized before what a blessing it was to have a job. I am so grateful for my Savior and for the promptings and guidance I have had. I know this happened for a reason and I am trusting in the Lord to help me figure out where to go next. I am so thankful for my amazing friends and  family. Everyone has been so encouraging and helpful; it has truly been amazing. I am extra grateful for John right now. He has pushed me and encouraged me. He also gets up every day and works his butt off at work or school so he can provide for me. And more than anything all of the love and support he has for me. i know I can get through anything with him by my side!

One a happier note, the rest of our life is going great! We really love living in Grover Beach; it is quite an entertaining town. We absolutely love our ward and we have some amazing friends. We have gotten really close to Steve and Kelsey Ingoldsby. They are some of the best friends we've ever had! John is in the last two weeks of the spring semester at Cuesta and is starting to get ready for his finals. I am really loving the Pathway program. I just finished my third week of classes and this semester is already completely different then the last. I am seeing myself grow as a student, a person and in spirit. If anyone is interested in joining the program, they will be starting a new group in this area in the fall. There is going to be a fireside for those who want to learn more. Call, text, or message me if you want more info. Well that's about it for us. Love you all!! And thanks again for your love and support :)

Homemade Pre-made Meals

So I have fallen in love with freezer meals!! When I get home from work I never feel like cooking and we have been spending way too much eating out. I decided to try out making my meals ahead of time and it has been amazing! I started with a freezer meal program from Moani Burk and made dinners for a month. It was so nice to come home and just heat up a wonderful meal. The prep day takes a lot of work but it is so worth it. I am buying my own copy of the program now. You can go through and pick your meals and print out recipes and grocery list.
Well now that dinners are so easy, I thought why can't we do this with all of our meals? Last week I made freezer breakfast burritos. They were super easy and we loved having such a great breakfast to take to work. Here is the website where I got the recipe... click here
Well this week we have decided to try taking lunch to work instead of eating out. I saw an awesome post on Pinterest about salads in a jar. You can make a weeks worth of salads up on Sunday night, put them in separate jars in the fridge, then just grab one each morning. They are supposed to stay good all week. Here is the site where I got the idea if you want to read more or see how its done... click here.  John was an amazing husband today and pretended to be as excited as I was about it. We made homemade salad dressings and assembled our salads this afternoon. They look so awesome that I just felt the need to share them with all of you!

We made (in order of pics) Caesar, Italian, Ranch, and Apple Pecan w/ Balsamic. I am super excited to try them all. I tried the dressings as I made them and they were so yummy. I'm not sure the will last as long as they said but I will let you all know how it goes!!

1 week til the move!!

So I've got to start by saying how much I love my Saturdays! John and I get to sleep in together then he goes of to work and I have the whole day to myself to do whatever I please. Today I'm having brunch consisting of toast, cottage cheese & farmers market fresh tomatoes. Aww the simple joys in life!

Anyways... 1 week from now we will be moving into our new place! Next Saturday will be a hectic but exciting day. My family is coming to help which will be so awesome because I miss them! And they are so much better at these things then us! Our apartment is a disaster right now! Boxes and bags everywhere!! Our dining room has become the box room, so everything that is packed lives there. Our living room and dining room are packed and today I think I'm gonna tackle the kitchen. Or maybe work on our bedroom a little. This will be my last weekend having to use coin-op laundry!! We're also super excited about our new ward! Matt & Moani will be in our ward. They had us over for dinner last week and they invited another couple from the ward who were so nice! We are so excited to get to know some new people & I've got my fingers crossed for a calling in Primary!

Last night we hung out with Daniel and Erica. We went to sushi (yum!) then carved pumpkins. We had so much fun! We saved all of our seeds and were going to roast them... but John managed to spill them all over the ground so we changed our minds lol. John's is a bird from the game Angry Birds & I made a Cyclops. Here are some photos of our masterpieces...

In other news...I will be going back to school in January, but not at Cal Poly. I will be taking online classes from BYUI. I'm super excited! The program is so great and will allow me to do what I want with my education (finally). The Lord definitely had a hand in creating this "Pathway Program" and in helping me find it. It is so perfect for me! I will start by taking 5 credits per semester online and attend a study group/ class session once a week with other students in the area who are also doing this program. Next December I will be done with the first "level" and by adding in be Cal Poly credits will have my AA. Then I can continue online or transfer to BYUI to finish getting my bachelors in whatever I want! I'm excited to be moving forward! We are planning to stay in San Luis Obispo until at least December 2012. John is going to finish at Cuesta and get his AA. Then we will transfer to BYUI probably for Spring semester 2013 to avoid a little bit of the snow. Its so nice to have a plan!

Well that's all for now! I will post some pictures of the new place in the next few weeks, when it is somewhat organized. Love you all! The Mastins

We're moving!!

 So we finally found a new place! For those of you who don't know we've been hunting for a new place to live since like June. We need something with a little more space and John would really like a garage. Well the hunt is finally over! We found an apartment in our price range with almost all of the things we want. The only thing missing is that they don't allow pets so no puppy in the near future :( but other then that it is perfect. It has 2 bedrooms, so we will get to have an office (goodbye flashing computer lights when we're trying to sleep). It also has a dishwasher so no more putting off doing dishes and lots of counter space so I can cook a little easier. I'm excited about the gas stove! Lol, no more burning stuff when the stupid electric stove won't cool down. And probably our favorite thing... a 2 car garage! We can both park inside, John can work on his car easily and more storage for the junk filling up our closets! it will be very different though because we are moving out of SLO.

 We will be living in Grover Beach. But we are actually happy about that. No more crazy collage kids everywhere, maybe people will start treating us like adults at the grocery store. We will also be in a new ward and a new stake. Hopefully this ward will be a little more welcoming and if not they better be prepared because we are gonna make ourselves welcome and be super involved so they have to get to know us this time!! The move will be interesting because this is the first time we have moved as a couple. We will actually be setting everything up together and hopefully doing a little decorating. Oh! I almost forgot my favorite part. We will have our own washer & dryer hookups!! No more coin-op laundry! Now we just have to find a washer & dryer.If anyone has one the want to give us or sell to us we would be so happy!

 Hmm... what else is going on with us? Well John is still in school and doing great. We are hoping he will be done at Cuesta in about a year and we will be moving again, a bit further though. He is also still working at CDM. He loves the hours & flexibility but not always the work. He is eager to move on to bigger and better things, mainly that involve cars! I am now working for Rizzoli's Automotive as an Administrative Assistant. I am actually really loving it! I am in charge of making sure everything gets done right. I am super busy all day and get to meet all kinds of people. Everyone I work with is so awesome! The company takes great care of us as employees. I love being told constantly have great I am and how much they appreciate me. We will both         still be working in SLO so we will probably be carpooling to work when we can.

 Well that's about everything! No babies planned in the foreseeable future for all of you that are wondering. :) We love you all and hope all is well! Love from the Mastins!!

Our Life

Hey everybody!

I just want to start by saying that I'm so exciting to start blogging! I really want to keep a record of what's going on in my life and I guess John's too. I have been failing at keeping a journal so I thought I'd try this so I can also share it with the people I love! Ok so here I go!

Right now we are struggling a little just trying to figure out where to go next. John is back in school this semester and is loving it. He's also working part time for a company called CDM. I love what a giant geek he is! He spends his day testing computer software and it just amazes me sometimes how smart he is especially when it comes to anything electronic. Actually it just amazes me how smart he is in general. I think he likes to hide it because he doesn't like it or doesn't want people to know, but he is such an intelligent man. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky...

Moving on to me! :) I have decided to take a little break from school and work full time so that John can get an education without us going into too much debt. I know everybody thought this was a bad decision, but we really prayed and thought a lot about it. I was just feeling so burnt out from school and he was so ready to go back. Plus we would really like to start a family before we're 30! No but really I want to be able to be a stay at home mom and I feel its really important for him to get a good education so he can find a career that will allow that life for us. But somehow our life never can go as planned. In May I got a great full time job as a nanny, that was going to allow everything to work. But last week we were hit with a bomb... the family can't afford to keep me full time anymore. I'm so devastated! It makes me question the choice we made and if it was really the right one. Now I'm on the hunt again for a new job and its been hard because I'm just so discouraged. I just want to work so bad and I feel like I put my all into everything I do but I can't seem to find an employer that appreciates it and can challenge me. I'm also fighting my impatience. I can not wait to have a baby and grow our little family. I try to remind myself each day to enjoy the moment I'm in and stop wishing for tomorrow.

I have so much more to say but it will have to wait til next time because I really should be doing dishes right now...(no really we have almost no dishes clean! i hate doing dishes!!!). I am so blessed to have such wonderful family & friends. I am so grateful for my Savior and the Gospel in my life. And most of all I am so thankful for my amazing husband. He truly is the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm not sure what I did to be lucky enough to get a man like him.

Thanks for reading!