the {junior} buhlers

A lot has happened and we need to blog about it before our big trip to London and Paris in two weeks.

The high point is that Karen got a sewing machine and has become rather crafty as of late. She made a quilt for our new niece Kendra Elizabeth Fuchs and couldn't wait to show the rest of you blog readers out there. Here are some pictures:

Not only has she made a quilt but she has several other projects planned in an effort to be cute and crafty while at the same time being self reliant and frugal. You don't have to tell me, I already know I picked a good wife.

Another high point was my first paycheck in more than 3 months. I finally got it after payroll telling me my check was lost in the mail, then sending me a check they said was good, but really there was a stop payment on it. So when another check showed up they told me that the stop payment was transferred to the other check and that the one I deposited would be alright. Then two days later our checking account was negative and I got charged for a returned check. Fortunately I didn't have any other major charges because of a reserve line that kicks in when my balance drops below a certain amount. So all those bills we paid off and checks we wrote and fund transfers went through just fine with out any more fees. Thank goodness for planning for the worst. The best part is that payroll is paying me back for all the fees that we racked up because they totally goofed up everything.

I don't necessarily hate my job but I certainly don't wake up every morning excited to talk on the phone all day long. Some calls I enjoy but most are just the same thing over and over again. For those who don't know, I work at a call center fielding calls for the Federal Student Aid Information Center which answers questions about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and other general Federal Student Aid programs run by the Department of Education. So, I'm your resident expert on all things FAFSA and other financial aid stuff for college. While most of our callers are referred to their schools' financial aid offices, we can still help a lot. So anyone out there needing help answering a question on the FAFSA, or don't know why they aren't getting as much as they think they should, or hate that they still have to include their parents' income and asset information, you can ask me and I can explain everything.

Last of all, we are putting forth a greater effort to be healthy. Not only are we TRYING to exercise more, but eat healthy food too. We're taking a nutrition class put on by a couple in our church and they're helping us make a food lifestyle change for the better. Basically, eat as many fruit and vegetables as you can and avoid anything with trans fat in it. Obviously there's more to it than that but those are the high points.

And finally, Karen asked that I share a story about a dessert mishap from last night. So we wanted something sweet after dinner and started looking through a cookbook for ideas. We found a good Apple Dumpling recipe that looked easy to make and wasn't terribly unhealthy either. We set to work preparing them, we wrapped apple slices covered in cinnamon sugar in crescent rolls and then poured on an apple juice, brown sugar, and melted butter sauce, then had to wait 30min for them to cook and then 30min to cool. So, after all this anticipation we were very eager to eat a delicious-looking dessert. While eating them we both thought they tasted way too buttery and had a strange aftertaste. I finished mine but Karen couldn't finish hers and we both felt kinda sick after eating them. Before throwing away the leftovers I pulled out the wrapper for the crescent rolls and discovered that we used the Garlic Butter Crescent rolls instead of the original ones. We both felt like purging our stomachs of such a disgusting combination but instead went to bed with tummy aches and bad breath. This morning we still had tummy aches and some pretty gnarly morning breath too. The moral of the story is to read the label of your crescent rolls and make sure you buy what you think you're buying.