The House of Payne

Yeah, still here. I just find myself so tired when I’m not working that I’d rather do other stuff. I do want to maintain our blog though. So, what have we been up to lately, you may ask?

Well, I took a part-time job at a local grocery store (Food Lion) to help us pay the bills. Yeah, I have a Masters Degree and I’m working retail. Oh well - gotta do what I gotta do, right? The paycheck is nice. Plus, I feel like I’m not totally lazy just sitting around. The sub jobs stopped a while ago after Roanoke City put a hold on allowing teachers to request subs due to budgeting issues. In the meantime, I’m applying literally everywhere for a full-time teaching position for the upcoming school year. I’m talking withing an hour and a half drive from our house. I SO want a job where I can utilize my degree!

On the weight-loss front, I’m down 26 pounds since I started my “diet” back up in late February! That’s a total of about 35 pounds since September! Yay! I’m losing probably an average of two-three pounds a week as of late February. I’m counting calories (I aim for about 1600-1900 calories per day), but I don’t deprive myself and I exercise three-four days a week. We completed one of my 101 goals, which was to join a gym. I love the elliptical and the treadmill. We still get out and enjoy the spring weather by walking on the greenway. Plus, standing up for hours on end at work burns calories, so that’s a plus. I’m feeling a difference in my clothes, many of which actually fit now! Woo-hoo!

In other news, we’ve started going to church! We’re going to the Unitarian Universalist Church here in Roanoke, and we love it! I really get a lot out of it - it really fits my philosophies on life, drawing on many different religions for its teachings. It feels so right!

That’s pretty much when life is all about right now. Working, weight loss, hanging out with friends and family, and church. OH, and we’re going to our first geocaching event tomorrow! It ought to be fun - we get to meet fellow Roanoke geocachers!

Hopefully too much time won’t pass again before our next blog post. I should really try one of my 101 goals soon - to write a blog post every day for one month. We’ll see.

Posted on April 17th, 2009 by Hollie
Filed under: Life