Oh girls, I am sooo tired of doing schoolwork today. My goal was to get all my quizzes for biology done today (usually I have 2). Except this week there are four. The first one took me over an hour, not counting the study time. The second one took a little less than an hour. For some reason they're all twice as long as usual, plus we have twice the amount of reading material in the form of articles in addition to the textbook. Same class also has an essay due this week. I know I can do it all, but I just hate sitting hour after hour, staring at the screen. I want to go work out, but I went this morning.

Maybe I'll go anyway - after I do this third quiz.

Okay, I've finished my lame attempt at procrastination. Till later!

Amber

Edit: I did all four quizzes! Didn't make it to the gym, but I did vacuum the kitchen and do some other chores. I'll go to the gym in the morning (assuming the horrid headache I had this morning doesn't return).

Almost bedtime

Just a quick post to summarize my productive day!

I did childcare at church, and went shopping with Angela! In about two hours, we did the following:

• Stopped at Costco for lunch
• Went to Ashley's to buy a couch
• Went to Target
• Went to JC Penney
• Went to Bed Bath and Beyond
• Went back to JC Penney

I got some nice new sheets that will go on our bed...after this post.

Angela helped me with some cleaning, then I made dinner just in time for when Joe got home. I made beef stroganoff except I used some chuck eye roast I had in the freezer. And I kind of improvised the recipe, but it turned out really good!

Here is the "recipe":

• Brown 2 lbs chuck eye roast, trimmed and cut into bite sized chunks (less would have been fine too, haha. It's just what I had.) in some olive oil on medium-high heat.
  
• Add a chopped onion and three minced cloves of garlic. Season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Cook about 10 minutes.
  
• Add a can of cream of mushroom soup. Simmer about 10 minutes.
• Start some water to boil pasta.
  
• Add about 1/2 to 1 cup wine. Simmer about 20 minutes.
• Add 1/2 cup sour cream just before serving.
• Serve over pasta!

This quantity made dinner for both of us, dinner for Joe tomorrow, and lunch for me tomorrow. Proportions are made to be played with. And Joe really liked this dinner!

We watched Wild Wild West which was funny if a bit raunchy.

It is very much my bedtime goodnight.

Day of Posts

Wow, I think everyone has posted today!!! How fun! I love all the reading material!

Today: Picked up the truck at Paul and Angela's, soaked in five minutes of their peaceful morning, then headed back to our craziness! I made lunch, then did schoolwork while Joe and his dad hammered at the bathroom. They had the downstairs doors open so I had to lock Wiggle and Jasmine in our bedroom - sad kitties. We're going out to Red Robin when Joe gets back from the dump - yay! I offered to make dinner but he said since I still have schoolwork to do, we should go out. =) we eat out way more than we should. =( But lately things have been so crazy with the water problems it's been hard to cook...

Anyway, pictures!

Gordo and Wiggle relaxing in very close quarters. Gordo probably doesn't know Wiggle is there. Wiggle wants so badly to be friends, but she can't keep herself from attacking anything that moves, including other cats, which usually make them give her the cold shoulder. They don't understand: she came from a life of scavenging, and you have to be brutal out there.






Our box fan to blow dust outside. The back plug doesn't stay in, so I had to tape it on. So ghetto!












The mud the boys have tracked on the floor. At least it's mostly contained in one area. It's just a little annoying that I mopped yesterday's mud off the floor, but small price to pay for a husband willing to work so hard on a bathroom!









Here's what the floor looked like when they were in the middle of working today.













My hardworking husband with a positive attitude! Last time I took a picture of him with this stuff, he wanted to take off his mask and his goggles. This time, he asked me to wait to take the picture till he had put his goggles on for effect!









I'm not sure, but I think this means the bathroom floor is half removed? I think today's project was to tear up the rotten floor. I hope that dark stuff isn't wet; I'm kind of afraid to go in there. This was taken with the flash for light (I am not sure how to turn on Steve's industrial lights).








Slightly funny - an hour ago I was so hungry and tired of this house and tired of school, and Joe asked me to look up whether the dump takes credit card payments. I found out eventually (only Visa and Mastercard) but I just looked into my search box, and apparently I searched "does the dump take credit cards kent wa". I'm guessing the results were pretty irrelevant for that search.

I think Joe's back and I promised I'd help him organize his tools before we go to Red Robin. Bye girls!

saturday doings

I am about to take you girls to a dark, secret place of my life.

Underneath my kitchen sink.

Ok, maybe its not that secret or that dark.  People see it every time they go to throw something out in our house, and we actually have a pretty well-lit kitchen sink area.  But its not exactly an area I like to draw attention to.

When we lived at the old farm house, I was a diligent re-cycler, garbage cruncher, and food composter.  When we moved to the apartment, however, I no longer had to pay for a tiny garbage can each month, and they don't exactly promote recycling that much here.  Everything just goes in the dumpster.  I also didn't have a container to put under my sink for my recycling (once in a while, I would put a diaper box under there, but it always got dirty and I ended up getting rid of it), and the discipline just went by the wayside.  It has gotten really annoying though, because our garbage fills up so quickly due to bottles and milk cartons being in there.  Finally, today, I remedied this.

Here's the before (please tell me I'm not the only one who lets areas of my home get like this)...

After pulling everything out, scrubbing the inside of the cabinets and the shelf, and putting in my new container that I got at Target today for $4.99, here is the result:

Maybe not beautiful, but definitely a huge improvement!  The recycling already needs to go out, haha.  I got such a small container because I wanted to make sure it would fit and be easy to carry to the dumpster/clean out every once in a while, and if we need a bigger one later on, it can always turn into a toy basket or something.  It would be nice if I had some shelf liner, but I'm not worrying about it right now, because we might be moving soon anyway!

I also got this new sweater for $4.00! Which I definitely didn't really need, but I liked it a lot, so I SPLURGED (ha, gotta love it when 4 bucks is a splurge...)

OH, and just in case any of you are interested, here is the recipe I used for the Pumpkin French Toast I made this morning.  It turned out very tasty, but it was very sweet. I think next time I might omit the brown sugar mixture on the bottom.  It was kind of more like cinnamon rolls than french toast due to the sweetness level, and the texture definitely got better after it cooled for a while.  I think it would probably work fine if I made the mixture and just made it like traditional french toast on a griddle too.

Anyway, I just put Shea down for a nap, and I need to get all the music and slides put together for church tomorrow.  

I'll also leave you with this quote.  I've been thinking a lot about having a peaceful home, and to be at peace in where we are in life, and this is such a good reminder about how we really find or attain peace.

"Peace comes in situations completely surrendered to the sovereign authority of Christ." 

— Beth Moore

Hi Everyone!

We have been getting way more snow that we did last winter.  Its not a lot at once, but its been piling up.  I'd say its up to my knees.  I'm so glad we live in an apartment building where we're not responsible for shoveling!  The picture I posted is like what all the trees look like, its so pretty.  We're on the third floor and we look out onto the snow covered branches.

Today has been a nice lazy Saturday.  I've cleaned the bathroom, Justin rearranged our storage room which was a mess and now we're waiting on two loads in the dryer.  We're trying to think of something fun to do tonight without spending money...we'll probably end up watching a movie or playing a game...maybe we'll have some friends over.  Laundry's just beeped...gotta go, hope you ladies are all having a good weekend!

Hip Hip Hooray for the weekend!!

This week has been a crazy one.

I worked Saturday Sunday. I have to replace this nurse who has RN-itis. Meaning she thinks she is the best thing that ever roamed our facility, and she think I should treat people like I am better than them too because I am an RN and not an LPN. Lame I know. Well this is the crazy thing, she was really rude to one of the doctors at the facility, the medical director, and he got her fired I think is the jist of it. She has no hours scheduled for next month and doesn't even know it. I am so so so glad I dont work this weekend because I don't want to be there when she finds out.

Then on Monday/Tuesday my parents were in town! We went to ikea, fixed two leaky sinks, fixed the leaking toilet, painted three rooms (two coats each) and yeah, we worked the entire two days they were here. The house is really starting to come together and we are loving it. I will take pictures of the newly painted and decorated rooms as soon as I finish fixing them up. :) My favorite thing is having a guest bedroom and a craft room. Oh man I am in heaven.

Oh and for fun we watched River Monsters (my mom didn't like it so she went on her computer) and ate Parmesan Popcorn, so yummy. All you do is drizzle olive oil (light) over popcorn and then pour parmesan cheese over the popcorn till it is coated to your liking. So goooooood.

Wednesday/Thursday/Friday I worked, and didn't get enough sleep any of the nights. On thursday we had a resident to resident altercation and this means I had to do paperwork, but here is the catch, I was not the nurse to find the situation, the other nurse was, she was the one who should have done the paperwork, I asked her to, she did like two things and then left. So yesterday I had to talk to the DNS (director of nursing) about how to do the paperwork and what I had to do. I totally broke down in her office 1) because of sleep deprivation and 2) sometimes it just sucks being so young and not having older nurses listening to you (or any body for that matter- this nurse is known to throw work on others and 3) because I had to call the state hotline about this incidence and I was scared I would make a mistake. I work with a great group of people though. I had done rounds with Dr. Waltman (one amazing man) the day before and he asks tons of questions and drills you, and that evening and the next day he was telling everyone how great of a job I was doing and they were telling me (that felt good). And then the DNS (who started crying when I started crying in her office) kept telling me how good of a job I was doing and she always hears good things about me in meetings. And then Kerrie (the nurse that trained me) told me how another administration nurse (the one the hired me) said I was doing a great job, and that even though I am new and young I always ask questions and try to figure everything out and do everything right. (they dont usually have nurses who try as hard as I do apparently (which is lame)). Ok there is my rant about work. How I had a breakdown and then a flow of compliments. Never go to work tired. I am telling you, worst idea ever.

I came home to find pictures of a fire on my camera, I like them. :)

Now I have the weekend off, and Paul has today off! We enjoyed a morning of pancakes, sleeping in, basketball, a quick visit from Joe and Amber so they could pick up the truck, and now we are getting ready for the day. Paul is showering, I think I am going to lay in the bath (and then shower, haha) and then we will go grocery shopping or something. We are exciting people I know.

Tomorrow I am going to :

1. finish organizing my craft room
2. vacuum the house
3. clean the toilets
4. do laundry
5. take a bath
6. relaxxxxxxxx

Ready for the weekend!

Hi girls!  Can I say TGIF???  I had a good week, but I am happy it's the weekend!


Today was my SECOND Pancake and Pajama day at school.  It was fun, but the kids got so excited and there were so many moms and little siblings who hung around today, that it got a little crazy at moments.  


I tried to take a picture of my shiny pajama pants that I wore, but Shea was kind of attacking me.  This is the best shot I got:

Then I tried to take one of us this morning (this is at like 6AM, haha)

The other day at school, all the girls were talking about what pajamas they were going to wear, so one said, "I wonder what Miss Becca is going to wear!"  And I playfully responded, "OH, I'm not suuurree..." and one goes, "Are you going to wear a nightie??"  That cracked us up.  My husband was trying to convince me this morning to wear one underneath a robe.  Riiight.  Totally work appropriate. :P


I feel like we've had a lot going on this week, but I don't know if we really have.  Just every day stuff has kind of tired me out...and I had to stay for my monthly staff meeting at work this week.  Shea has been really great this week though - sleeping so well and on schedule and he is starting to play by himself so well lately.  I've also been getting up earlier, and getting about a full hour of time with Shea before I go to work, which has been so nice!


Our new director at work (I LOVE her - I liked our old director too, but I just love our new one.  She is so gentle and sweet, even in the midst of really a lot of crazy personal trials going on in her life.  such a strong Christian woman), told me I didn't have to work up in the daycare on Wed/Fri anymore.  Even though this is only an hour of my time, I am SO glad to leave earlier.  So, today I got home at about 12:30.  My mom hung out for a few minutes, and then Jeremy came home.  His parents were dropping by unexpectedly, so we cleaned up (which we needed to do anyway for company later in the evening), and I made some coffee in my french press.  We were going to go out to Target to buy some diapers, but didn't have time before our guests came over.  I made some homemade hummus, and olive dip (I used up some of those green olives in it you gave us, Amber)  IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!  I didn't have a recipe, but whatever I did turned out really delicious and it was SO easy, and then we put together a cheese plate.


I was a little sad, because I invited my friend Susan over, but she responded to my text via facebook because her phone wasn't working, and I didn't see it until after we had finished eating.  Oh well.  One of Jeremy's friends is still over and watching some documentary.


Oh well, dinner was good.


I'm baking some homemade french bread right now, and am going to make some pumpkin french toast that soaks overnight for the morning.  If it turns out well, I'll be sure to share the recipe with you girls!  Tomorrow we have an all day Game Day event for our church, and probably have some people over to play music.  Guess I should go do the dishes!  I'm hoping to get out of the game day for the most part, so I can get some other things done around the house.


We haven't heard any news about the rental house - but!  She keeps reposting it on craigslist, so I know it is still available (they sound like they're getting kind of desperate, so maybe we can work something out).  Still waiting to hear about our taxes before we can figure that one out too.


My goals for tomorrow are:


-Clean off our desk and organize our papers (including shredding some documents)
-Get my sewing stuff back in order from Christmas and start working on baby shower gifts (I have so many coming up!)
-Get my care package put together to send my sister at college
- WORK OUT.


Have a great weekend!

Workout

Yesterday I went to the Vision Quest gym on the recommendation of a friend. And signed up. They were having a one-day event where it costs $15/month instead of $20/month to sign up. No enrollment fees. I prepaid a year and got an additional six months free. And the best part - Joe couldn't say no to such a good price, so we both signed up!

I don't like the staff as well as at the Y, and it has a different feel to it. It's mostly people our age and it's all, well, zazzy. Hip and modern. One reason I liked the Y was because it had such a family feel. And this one guy who has been helping me, I don't know if he's on drugs or what but he is so out of it. Yesterday he was tired from not getting enough sleep from staying up late, drinking. Hm.

Anyway, you get a free personal trainer session every month so I met with mine today - Amber! I like her a lot.

They don't have some of the same amenities as the Y: no family dressing rooms, no pool, no towel service. They have a hot tub, but weirdly it's located in this teensy room accessible through the back doors of the male and female dressing rooms, which are on either side of it. It's in this dinky concrete poorly-lit room. I wouldn't want to go there unless Joe was with me!

They do have a sauna in the women's locker room which I look forward to trying out.

Bathroom update: We have a guy out here right now to estimate the cost of rooting our main line. If it's too much we'll do it ourselves - TODAY. The drains are so backed up that almost any water we put down any drain in the house - shower, toilet flushing, sink water, dishwasher, washing machine - comes out of the hole in the floor where the toilet used to be. I thought it was bad having to use store-bought water instead of tap water to wash our hands, etc. It's much worse not being able to dump anything down the drain! I made some pasta for lunch and drained it outside!

I took Melody shopping yesterday. That was really fun - especially since I loaded up on workout clothes! Haha. Joe didn't mind because he knew I needed them, and plus we got such a great deal with our gym membership. Our two VisionQuest memberships are costing us half as much as would a Y membership for just me.

Edit: And we're getting our pipe rooted right now! In an hour everything will be fine. In fact, the backup was probably what caused the tub to leak in the first place. Still it's good that we gutted the bathroom. It needed to be done.

At Angela's

I'm sitting next to Angela right now, just chilling before she has to go to work. I showed her the outside of the house we made an offer on - sounds like things are moving along, we'll know more next week.

I made yummy fish tacos the other night - Joe loved them! Here's the recipe: Tilapia Soft Tacos with Chipotle Cream Sauce

He wants me to add a third chili to the sauce next time I make it (of course I didn't try the sauce, I just had plain sour cream). And I'm going to cut the tilapia loins into fourths-ish so they can get coated with more of the yummy spices. Maybe I'll make double the amount of sauce next time.

I haven't posted because there hasn't been anything to post! Nothing is new. We're still deciding bathroom stuff. There's something wrong with the kitchen sink pipe, so every time I run the dishwasher, water backs up into both sinks and when the dishwasher is done running, there is standing water in the bottom. I was trying to clean the sink yesterday and every time I ran water it just pooled - yuck! It's getting worse, and my dear husband promises to get around to it. I have a feeling the dishwasher will overflow soon. I could handle washing dishes by hand except that the stupid sinks won't drain. And since we don't have a downstairs bathroom...I'd have to handwash dishes in the upstairs bathroom sink!! (Or get all disposable dishes...or eat out every night - haha!)

I really can't think of anything else. Bye!

I tried to blog yesterday..

...but by the time I finished getting the pictures ready it was time for me to go to work. So here is a super quick update because MY PARENTS WILL BE HERE ANY MINUTE!!! Can you tell I am just kinda excited? Haha.

Paul and I went furniture shopping on friday and we went to Olive Garden for lunch as well because we had a 30 dollar gift certificate. I ended up getting my meal free too because they didn't have the meal I ordered. Whoop whoop.

Gabe came over and we hung out, drank mikes, and watched River monsters!

Lunch before work. I had to cook to make sure Paul would eat a healthy dinner. Haha.

The awesome work outfit!
They are hereeeeeeeee.

Another update

Yes, another post in the same day! haha.

So yesterday Joe replaced both our car batteries. Just now I was driving to donate some stuff to the thrift store and my car died just before a busy intersection! It wouldn't re-start, so I put my hazards on, got out, and told the guy behind me he should go around me. He said "okay" and asked if I needed help pushing my car. I said YES! We backed it up into a space - by the time it was out of the road, there were like six guys helping and more who had run over from their cars to help since the light was red! So helpful! Then I borrowed the guy's cell phone to call Joe. When Joe came, he started my car, no problem. Anyway, I made him give me his car for a thrift store trip because I was too paranoid.

I'm done with school, and we're halfway done cleaning up the downstairs. I did a lot of dusting, and when Joe gets his stuff organized we're going to mop. For some reason I got inspired to organize the stuff in our spare room, which is why I made the trip to St. Vincent's. Also, I gathered all of Joe and my old textbooks to see what we can sell online! Joe already has an ebay account which he's sold lots of stuff on, so I'm going to use his account since he has good ratings and stuff. Anything we can't sell we'll donate!

It feels good to be inspired to start going through stuff - like we're moving already. We're not, but we're hopeful!

Our bathroom looks like a barn, haha. See that yucky mold? Ew! We have our work cut out for us. Apparently in remodeling the bathroom, the previous owners glued a layer of sheet rock over the existing layer. Who knows what's between them! Gross! It sure feels good to root all this stuff out. Whether we end up renting the house or selling it, at least there will be one very redeeming part of it!

Updates

We have water! Joe's wonderful dad came and helped with bathroom stuff this morning. Angela can testify - this man is amazing! He spent the other day helping Angela and Paul, and today helping us! His wife is very generous to let him help us so much!

I took a shower and I feel great! Also, Joe put the downstairs showerhead on the upstairs shower, and I love that showerhead so it was a very pleasant shower! We can flush our toilets again and wash our hands again, and as soon as I finish my lab report I'll run the dishwasher and the clothes washer.

Picture time!

This is what the side of our bathtub looked like an hour ago:




















Here's what it looks like now:




















Here's what it looks like just outside the bathroom door:





















Here's Steve. I love this picture because you can see the motion of his hand waving!




















Here's Joe. He wanted to take off his mask and glasses for the picture but I wouldn't let him, so he said "you can't tell but I'm sticking out my tongue at you right now". What a silly boy!




















The bathroom is changing so fast even as I type! Here it is now:




















This is all so much more exciting than identifying bacteria, but as soon as I finish this lab report I'm done for the day! I'm actually motivated to do some organizing so I'm going to hurry up and finish! Game night at a friend's house tonight to reward us (especially Joe) for all our hard work the last few days!

cheesecake!

OK.  I have to share my cheesecake with you girls!  Its the first one I have made since I worked at my first baking job when I was 16.  And it turned out so delicious.  I never eat cheesecake anymore, because Jeremy doesn't like it, so I really enjoyed it. haha.  I have about a quarter left after the get-together last night...I am definitely taking it to church tomorrow.  It was so rich, one piece was enough for a while.

SO I love the house even more!  The owners were so nice and it was fun to meet them.  It has way more space than we thought from the outside.  The living room is a little smaller than we thought, but it's still a really good size, so it doesn't matter.  The kitchen has more space, adn there's a huge laundry room with enough space for me to put all my sewing/craft stuff in there.  Plus, there's a 400 sq. foot upstairs rec room, with a built in gate at the top of the stairs so Shea can't get down!  It even has a fire pit in the back with tons of wood we're allowed to burn, and fenced in BIG yard with some woods for Shea to explore in.  I'm really really really trying not to get my hopes too high.  It's been on the market for 6 weeks this time, and they've only had one showing, so thats kind of good for us.  Basically the only problem is that we can't move until te end of March, but she hadn't gotten back to anyone else who had called and they really want the right people in there.  We'll see!  I don't want to post any pics myself, but here's the craigslist posting:  http://seattle.craigslist.org/kit/apa/2171558988.html  Its even cuter in real life though :)

Anyway, I'm having fun this morning sitting around in my PJs with the fam.  We only get three channels on our TV, so Shea is watching the Christian channel cartoons and is SO interested in them....that kid has some weird taste!

Happy Weekend! 

Bathroom

So, while Joe was taking out the sink, something rusty broke and water started gushing everywhere! At the same time, a contractor for insulation had just arrived. So I was looking for Joe, who was outside frantically turning off the water to the house. Yikes! So Joe's working on it now, and we bought drinking/washing hands water for our use. Here is a picture of the bathroom as of five minutes ago:






















The insulation guy was very nice, helping Joe out with the bathroom. I made him some coffee and convinced him to let me make him a sandwich (becca, "can I make you a sandwich?" haha!!) He seemed kind of lonely because it took him about an hour and a half to give us the bid - which, unfortunately, was outrageous. Still, nice guy.

I went to my meeting. Apparently to use my gift certificate I have to pay $300. A short rant is coming up:

I absolutely HATE it when people use "financing options" as an incentive to buy something you can't afford. I said "sorry, we just haven't budgeted for a random $300, and if I had that money to spend anywhere, I'd spend it somewhere else." Her response: "Well, we do have easy monthly payment options." Ugh, this is how people get sucked into debt! I feel ill every time I see those signs. If you must go into debt, go to school or buy a house, then work like crazy to pay it off. You shouldn't go into debt for fancy furniture or spa services, that's sick. And I understand that people have to make their own decisions, but if I had a business, I would not offer financing, and I would say why! And I would have copies of Dave Ramsey's book for sale! If someone told me, "your product is out of my price range" I would say "I respect your budget. Might I suggest a cheaper option, or coming back later? We want to support financially healthy families."

Ha! How's THAT for family friendly!

Anyway. I took Joe's car to the appointment, then went to Costco and got car batteries (his needs replacing too) then went to Safeway and got water. Hopefully the water in our house will be fixed tomorrow so I can wash all those wet rags and finish the half-washed load in the dishwasher! At Costco I returned some stuff and got the money back from the coupons I forgot.

I am soooo ready to relax tonight, but I'm going to clean instead. Joe is hard at work so I should be, too.

Oh, by the way, does anyone want a free one month trial of Netflix? I don't know, maybe you can get the same deal elsewhere but let me know and I'll tell you "the code" (or, as the advertisement says, the "Priority Code").

It's Friday!

Hooray its Friday...I just have one more class...Stats. Then I'll be free!
I feel pretty good about my day so far.  It didn't start off well though.  This morning I jumped out of bed to turn of our alarm and I tripped over Justin's suitcase and fell on top of it!  He felt bad, so I'm hoping it'll be put away when I get home. :)
Actually that's really the only bad thing that has happened today...so I'm doing quite well.
I went to the gym and ran 2 miles on the treadmill!  I'm able to run farther than last week, its exciting to see progress! When I was leaving the gym I noticed some students were having a mini-garage sale, so I got two nice sweaters!  I felt like it was a reward for making it to the gym.

Tonight we're having some friends over for dinner.  I end class at 5, so I'll probably get home around 5:15/20 and we told them to come over at 6:30!  I'm not sure that was so smart...I should have enough time to cook dinner...we'll see.

Right now I'm in the library with over an hour to kill...my plan is to start studying for my stats test on Tuesday.  I was terrified about taking this class, but so far it hasn't seemed too awful.
Hope you ladies all have a great weekend!

Busy day ahead!

Here was our bathroom yesterday:




















Now all the wallpaper is off:




















Joe plans to take out the sink, the toilet, and the linoleum today - wow!

I won a $300 gift card for a laser hair removal center (I entered a drawing at the Home Show). I told them I don't want to spend ANY money, and so I'm meeting with them to find out what I can do for that amount. They do "skin rejuvenation" too, and that's cheaper than hair removal, so I might do that. My meeting is today.

Until then, I need to make us lunch, run through my daily cleaning stuff, and do some school. And plan dinner so I can stop by the grocery store on my way back from my appointment.

Joe and I used our second of three visitors passes to the YMCA today. I did half a mile on the elliptical and about 2.5 miles on the treadmill! Most of it was fast walking but I did some jogging and running too. One thing I love about the Y is that they have family dressing rooms that have a toilet and a sink and a shower. It's...luxurious. And so nice spending time together after you work out with your husband. I think he's going to let me get a membership, but I'm trying to convince him that we need to add him onto mine.

I feel dazed, tired, but good.

Here's a cute picture of a ball-o-Jasmine that's been sitting in the camera for a while:

















Cat update: Last night, for the first time, all three cats slept on the bed! It was quite cozy. I've mentioned before that Wiggle likes to sleep completely under the covers, snuggled against your body (I don't know how she can breathe). The other cats like this because if they can't see Wiggle, she doesn't exist.

But she is SUCH a weird cat. She loves to play with my hair ties, paper balls, bottle caps - anything, and it entertains her for a long time. It's so easy to distract her. And she likes to keep my hair ties in the cat food dish - yeah. I kept taking them out, and then she started putting them in the water dish! So weird. I love seeing her carry things around in her mouth. The other cats don't really do that.

Oh, and she is stinky. We need to research what to do about stinky cats because she farts often and potently. Yuck.

Alright, time for me to make lunch!

Hopeful

I was going to post some pictures, but my camera is dead.  Oh well.


Yesterday was kind of a crazy day!  My mom accidentally slept in, so I called her a few minutes after 7:30 (about when I leave in the morning, but I have like a ten minute buffer in case she is late), and woke her up.  So Jeremy had to race home so I could use his car and he could watch Shea until she got there.  It was Pajama and pancake day at school, so I came home hot from being in my PJ's and full of pancake batter - there was a lot to clean up and I felt really rushed all day.  I was supposed to go meet my friend, Susan, for some dinner that night, but I felt so rushed and I hadn't seen Shea or Jeremy really at all, but it worked out because we all ended up going to to Applebees for half-price appetizers.  I hadn't eaten anything all day and successfully stuffed my face.  Shea was kind of cranky though, and was only happy while he had food and he was hungry.  


We came home, I put Shea to bed while Jeremy worked out, and then when he got home, I ran out to the grocery store because I really needed to buy some staples and produce for Shea (I've given him way too many hot dogs this week!)


Then, I took a shower and Jeremy and I laid in bed and read a book together.  Its one of my favorite things to do.  Sure, I get through a book a lot faster when I read it on my own, but I love just cuddling and then discussing the book after.  This one is really good so far, too.


This morning I got up at about 10 to 6 - Jeremy had already left, because he had a meeting at 6.  I skipped a shower (for some reason, I love mornings where I don't have to take a shower) and my hair was actually not totally crazy, so I just curled it a little bit, got dressed, MADE THE BED (this doesn't usually happen before 8PM), did the dishes, made a latte and ate half a bagel for breakfast, and fed Shea breakfast.  He's in a happy mood this morning, I think he must've slept well.


Tonight we are going to a desert/movie night function at our church.  I'm going to make a chocolate cheesecake, and!  We're going to go look at that house beforehand!  I was getting kind of bummed because I called and left a message and sent an email, and they didn't get back to me...but then she reposted it and said to call again if I had already called, because she's really bad at returning calls.  I got in touch with her, and I'm praying it will work out!  I am pretty hopeful about it, but trying not to get too excited.  A lot of things would have to work out just right, so it will OBVIOUSLY be up to God to get us in there!  I think we might actually end up in it for a while if we got it, because there has to be a reason that its not selling and they're renting it right now.


Blessings on your day!

Bummer

Joe works twelve hours today, and Angela has today off, so I was looking forward to spending some time with her while Paul and our dad worked on their house. But alas, my car battery is dead again today. This time I did the smart thing and called AAA (that's what we have our membership for, right?) They tested my battery and found that I need a new one. We're not willing to pay for them to install it today, so in the morning we'll get a new one since Joe has tomorrow off.

The AAA guy was creepy. At first he seemed nice, telling me about his kids and grandkids. Then I noticed he could not stop looking at my chest or my butt. And I was wearing a very bulky coat - with a sweatshirt underneath! I guess the coat made it look like I had gigantic boobs.

I briefly considered the possibility that he had a psychological disorder like a mild form of autism that made it difficult for him to look directly into people's eyes. But people like that tend to look past you, or look around them while they're talking - not pick another body part to stare at.

I am bummed though; I really didn't want to spend today by myself. I've done some stuff around the house, but I can't believe how unmotivated I feel. I think I'll load and start the dishwasher then watch Psych. And eat chocolate...ohhhhh, that's why I feel dumpy.

In other news! Our bathtub has a leak. Since everything in that bathroom is ancient, we're remodeling the whole thing. So far we have taken off the torn wallpaper. We'll have to replace some of the sheetrock that is moldy. And put in different flooring, either tile or linoleum. The bath might be a problem because it's about an inch smaller than standard bathtubs, so we might get a smaller tub without the included wall and just tile the wall.

We're also considering moving the sink to the other side of the room, so that we can make the door swing the other way (right now, if you recall, you have to reach behind the door to turn on the light). While we're doing that we may as well put a nicer-looking door on. We'll probably replace the toilet too, and figure out some other way to have the water heater in the bathroom. It would be so nice to get a tankless heater (especially since our water heater is so old) but that cost isn't justified right now.

When we look at the house we made an offer on, it says "pending". Just waiting for lien holder approval. Talked with our realtor today, he said the banks might move faster than usual because they are desperate to sell the house. Up to two more months of waiting!

You lucky girls!

You get to hear from me twice today!

So, today's original plan was that Joe would work in Puyallup for 4 hours, come home, and we'd do some much needed grocery shopping. At noon he called and said his schedule had been changed and he'd be working there until 9 PM instead of 2 PM. He didn't have his laptop or a book or food or anything (this morning he said I didn't have to make him lunch since he'd only be gone for a few hours).

So I concocted a surprise for him, gathering his book and laptop and writing a love note, and then cooking some rice and chicken for him. I hit the button on my car beeper to unlock it, but nothing happened. I replaced the beeper's battery - still nothing. So I called the alarm place, told them I was coming in, and used my key to open my car door - to find out, my battery was dead!

I've had Joe's GPS plugged in and off for the last few days (Joe keeps it plugged in continually in his car, so I didn't think it would be a problem). But the battery was completely dead. I went down the road to the tire shop and they said they could help in a while, but they were too busy. So I walked to Ujis' house (the guy that feeds the cats) and he said he could help but he didn't have jumper cables. So I walked to Al's house (he rents some space in our backyard for the cars he's working on) and he lent me cables and we finally got it started!

Finally I got to surprise Joe at work! He is working at my favorite Safeway in Puyallup. It's so nice! Wide aisles, not crowded, fresh produce, items neatly arranged, helpful people, and checkout lines that don't back into the aisles.

I asked the technician if I could "speak to the pharmacist". He was so surprised when he saw me! We couldn't really hang out, but I brought him a book and his laptop. As I was leaving I remembered the note I had for him and went back to the pharmacy. The tech said "you're the wife, aren't you? You must really love your husband and miss him". That made me happy! She's obviously a romantic like me.

I drove past a woman carrying her sleeping daughter and walking down a busy road in Puyallup so I asked if she needed a ride, and she said yes - to the Salvation Army, but she was lost. I found it on Joe's GPS and took her there. And in the middle of the ride I made her put on her seatbelt. Then I realized that we were still driving illegally because she was carrying her one year old daughter.

I went to Trader Joe's in Federal Way for the first time, to pick up some frozen mixed vegetables I had at my mom's place and loved. Then I went to Federal Way Costco and got everything else we needed. I clipped all my coupons, put them in a specific place in my purse, and then forgot to use them at checkout. It's okay, I'll just keep my receipt and have them put the difference back on my card next time.

Now I'm home. Perishable groceries are put away; nonperishables are still on the kitchen floor. I returned Al's jumper cables. Now...I think I'll relax until my "live classroom" for biology starts. It's not required but it's always helpful and I like to be supportive because I really like my teacher.

Till later!

As you know we made an offer on a short sale, which can take a long time to hear back from. We got a minor counter from the seller with just a few small changes which we agreed to, so it's a good sign that it's been approved by the seller. But since it's a short sale, there are two banks that have to approve it, and that's what takes all the time. Today is the first official day the banks are open since we put in the offer. So the waiting period begins.

And just in time. I think God is trying to make me hate this house as much as Joe does so we'll both be really motivated to get out of here. I hardly slept last night. It seemed like the trains were extra loud and they were constantly coming by - I'd wake up to one train, then be almost asleep when another one would go by. I had horrible dreams about Mormons trying to kill me. My face was bitter cold outside of the blanket but my feet were grossly hot and sweaty so I couldn't get comfortable.

This morning before I got up I spent some time daydreaming. Someday we'll be able to set a thermostat instead of constantly being too cold or too hot. And the quiet! I don't even know what that's like! I daydreamed about having a sink disposal - silly, I know, but I can't wait!! And while I'm grateful that we have a dishwasher here, I look forward to having one where you don't have to pre-wash the dishes.

Until now, moving seemed like something we were doing because Joe wanted to - and of course, as the submissive wife, I agreed that it would be nice, and wholeheartedly jumped into it. Today I started realizing how wonderful it would be, and realizing that Joe's motive for moving isn't to make a better life for him, but for us - and for me.

I always say that if I were single, I'd stay living in the train house and pay it off, then save up for a down payment for a new house. But the fact is: I'm not single, and we have to do what's best for our family, not necessarily what's the best investment. Plus, this is an exercise in trust for me. So it's good for our relationship all around!

Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that we get to live in a house. It was fun (most of the time) having roommates to pay my mortgage for a year and a half. But now I'm at another stage in my life and if I may say so, I'm loving it! I'm married to a very responsible man, so I should trust him.

tired today!

well, I'm off to work here pretty soon, but I thought I'd post about yesterday!


Since I had the day off, Jeremy took it off too.  We mostly just hung around the house in our PJ's. Shea has been sick (he had a fever on Sunday and hasn't been sleeping well), so he took a few naps and wasn't really hungry or wanting to do anything but whine and sit on my lap.   We went and drove by a house we're considering renting.  It is SO so so so cute!  It's not much more rent than our apartment, but it is 1750 square feet (which is like 2x s large as our current place), has a cute fenced yard, huge kitchen, all remodeled, and is so cozy.  I really like it.  The only thing is that the reason it is so cheap, is because its on the market.  It has been for the past year, so they're renting it out on a month by month basis.  Which means, we could be in there for 6 months to a year or more, or maybe only like 3 months. haha.  So we're trying to decide if its worth it, at this point - we're very easy to move, so it's not a big deal for us, but it would be sad if we only got to live there a few months.


We also found out that our car won't be out of the shop until possibly Thursday this week - they gave me a bad estimate on the time AND the work, so this is somehow my fault, I guess.  I think if they estimate badly they need to tell me before they start working on it, or bite the extra labor themselves.


So, we are juggling my car today.  There is also a PSE guy coming either today or tomorrow (or maybe both, I don't know) between 9-5 to install some sort of energy efficient lightbulbs and stuff.  We got some notice last week about it...so, since I didn't know where he had to go, I did the following last night before bed:


- cleaned the kitchen
- cleaned the master bathroom
- put away all of our clothes and tidied the bedroom
- vacuumed
- did one load of laundry.


Am I the only person who cleans for maintenance type people?  I always think "Oh, I"m sure they've seen much worse than this", but something in me still has to clean for them, even though the likelihood of me seeing them again is slim, and do I really care if they think I'm a tidy person or not?


My sister, her boyfriend, and two of my brothers came over for dinner last night.  My sister is leaving for college for the first time - out of state - on Wednesday, and won't be back until mid-April.  Not that long, but anyway she came to visit before she left.  Then we played Cranium (my hubby wasn't too happy about this, because he doesn't like the game and everyone kind of made him play), and then one of Jeremy's friends randomly stopped by after everyone left for a little while.


I'm back to work today, and I'm not really that excited about it!  I don't know why, I think I'm just tired today.  Hopefully it will go quickly!  I think I want to be a stay-at-home mom next year.  Yes.  And I am definitely getting some coffee this morning.


Hope you are all having a great week!

Guess Who's Back...

Hi Everyone!  So I am back from glorious Christmas holidays and starting the 2nd week of classes.  Exactly one week ago I was sitting on the beach reading my book listening to the sound of the waves...now I'm living with a foot a half of snow of the ground!  I'm really bummed I can't put up pictures of my trip because I can't find the cord to put them on the computer.  Looking for it has caused me to get a lot of cleaning done, but it still hasn't turned up.

School looks like its going to be ok.  Busy, but I will survive, somehow I always do.  Today has been pretty productive school wise...I went to class, read the assigned chapter and started on my homework for Wednesday.  I'm hoping to get more hw done tonight because Justin will be at his evening class.  I'm really hoping I can be more consistent with blogging, I enjoy it when I do blog, so I should keep it up!

Another weeks absence and a whole lot of change!

This last week has been absolutely CRAZYYYY.

Monday: We signed the closing papers, we picked up the truck from Paul's parents, I packed up the entire kitchen, we watched a movie, chilled, took a nap.

Tuesday: Paul and I got up at 10ish, walked to Dave's of Milton for one last small town restaurant breakfast (and we didn't shower before we went and got asked if we had partied the night before....yeah either that or packed up an apartment). Signed one more paper for the house. We drove to Seattle to pick up Paul's Civic so we can sell it! Came home, packed all the boxes we could into my car and Paul's dad's truck, finished at 4, sat on the couch, and then got the call we could move in! We called Joe, Amber, Steve, and Kathy and started moving in! We moved until 10pm, then Paul and I went grocery shopping and spent 70 bucks since we hadn't bought a bite of food all month! Haha.

Wednesday: I got up at 6:30am with Paul to pack his lunch, and started unpacking stuff. Then I took a nap from 8-9am. Then the carpet cleaner guy came and cleaned all the carpets in the house. While the guy was cleaning all the carpets I organized the whole kitchen! Then I had to get ready for work. I left at 11:45am and got home a little after midnight.

Thursday: I woke up at 6:30am again with Paul, packed his lunch, and then started unpacking like a crazy person. I moved stuff from the "wooden bedroom" to the closet, my craft room and our bedroom. I set up our bed! No more air mattress for us! Then I went to work from 11:45am to 2:30am, so not cool.

Friday: Woke up at 6:30, packed Paul's lunch and promptly fell back to sleep till 10. Laid in bed, read my blogs, replied to some emails, packed my lunch and went to work. I had a small breakdown. Too little sleep, so much change, too much work, and then I had people tell me they audited the two charts of people I had admitted by myself (just 4 hours before) and that I missed a couple things (that I never even knew I should do, and asked people about them weeks ago and they said there was nothing else to do...so what did I do when I found this out? Locked myself in the med room and cried for half an hour, pathetic, but necessary sometimes). I pulled myself together, did another admit, worked till midnight (left a lot of work for the people the next day because I coudn't fix all the problems with the chart audits on my shift and I sure wasn't staying until 2:30am again!

Saturday: I got up at 7am to make Pauls lunch, went back to bed and slept until 11:30!!! Crazy I know, but it felt sooooo goood. Then I unpacked and organized my craft room. (So fun!). Then Gabe came over at 3:30, I gave her a tour of the house, we played around on the house "jungle gym", made taco's and a vegi platter for dinner and waited for Paul to get home. Paul got home at 7pm, we ate, watched Tuck Everlasting, drank Mike's Hard Lemonade and ate cake as a new house celebration. We went to bed at 11pm (the earliest any of the three of us had gone to bed in as long as we can remember!).

Sunday: We woke up at 8:30 not tired one bit. I played on the computer, unpacked, cleaned a bathroom, took a shower, got ready, then went to Steve and Kathy's house to meet up with Amber and Joe to go to the Home Remodeling show in Seattle. We did that whole shindig, then went to lunch at Bistro 663 (best Chinese food everrrr) then went to Uwajimaya (Japanese grocery and accessory store) then went home! At home I organized the entire closet (still need to get pictures of the finished product, so much better than the one I am posting), watched tv, made dinner, organized the garage, and just hung out with the hubby. So so so awesome. And here are the pictures.

Moving day. It snowed like 3 inches...but was all melted by 8am the next morning because it rained all night. Haha.

Making taco's and vegi platters for dinner! I don't know the last time Paul and I sat down for a dinner together and it felt sooooo good. And it was so good to have Gabe there too. I miss her so much.

The living room/eating area.

The kitchen! We are keeping it yellow for now, I really like it. Oh and I love having a pantry, and a dishwasher, and a garbage disposal, and a refrigerator big enough for all the food we want to eat, and a gas range. I would have never appreciated all this had I not lived in such small apartments for so long.

The stairs, the downstairs bathroom (with ugly tile and an ugly border that will change sometime in the next year), and the wonderful closet under the stairs that holds the vacuum, dvd's, and games!

The bedroom, the first room I set up. It is finally all cleaned up so I will have to take more pictures of the closet and sink area. :)

The lookout from upstairs, and the hallway views

The laundry room, and spare bedrooms. We are picking up the guest bed tomorrow but poor Gabe had to sleep on the air mattress. We did have it blown up for her...this was just after she woke up.

Driving to the home remodeling show!

At the show. Paul and I learned about garage doors and their openers (we need to get ours fixed up a bit), rain gutter guards (ours are FULL of leaves right now), new roofs (we will need one in the next 5 years). Oh and Joe and I played basketball, so fun.

Bistro 663! Best food ever like I said earlier. You know it is good when you are the only white people in the restaurant.

Walking to Uwajimaya. Cold but so fun. And Amber and Joe are adorable. :)

In Uwajimaya. They have aweseome stuff, seriously. The Mom and baby book says "I get to give birth AND change diapers!" Haha.

The end. Thanks for reading my ramblings. It's crazy not to blog for a week. I need to break this cycle for sure!

YMCA

Hi girls! So yesterday I went to the Auburn YMCA to have a tour and get three passes so we can try it out, and this morning - Joe and I worked out together! It was really fun. I was embarrassingly tired afterward but that's normal because I haven't worked out in like a month. I started out on the elliptical, moved to the treadmill, and then a bike opened up next to Joe so I did that. He biked ten miles!!!

I'm trying to convince Joe we need to do it. Yes, it's definitely an extra monthly expense. But for us, for now, I think it's worth it. On days when Joe is gone, I need three things: People, exercise, and getting out of the house. And Joe needs exercise, so we could go together on his days off. Plus in January there's no joining fee! Normally it's $125.

When asked why I couldn't just go to another gym, I said I don't like creepy guys staring at me. The Y caters to families, so it's definitely not the place you go to find a girlfriend. I'm willing to pay extra to feel comfortable while I exercise - plus, as my mom pointed out, the money isn't going to some money-hungry corporation, but to a non-profit that provides seriously discounted rates for low income families.

Plus they have free classes and programs! Yay!

The only downside is I have the song "Y-M-C-A" perpetually stuck in my head.