hit the deck! Literally!

Today I'm joining Amber in the physical pain department.  This morning, as I was getting ready to leave, my mom pulled up.  I ran out the back door to tell her to move her car up so I could get my car out...unfortunately, I didn't notice that there was a thick slush on our back deck and I slipped, twisted my body and landed on my left knee and left shoulder.  I didn't have time to really think about it or even change my now soaking wet and muddy pants and just left for work.  By the time I got home my knee was swollen (but doesn't hurt anymore), and now I can't move my left shoulder or lift my arm.  Even bending my elbow hurts to some extent.  I had to go back to a staff meeting tonight and it was painful to drive or even write with a pen!  Jeremy had to help me give Shea a bath and put on his pajamas.  I have no idea how I'll get through the day at preschool tomorrow.  yikes.  Hopefully its only sore for a few days, but I have  a feeling I'm going to be very stiff tomorrow.


Anyway, thats all I really had to say.  It probably didn't help that when I was home in-between work I decided to do a bunch of chores before I really noticed how much I was hurting my arm.  We're now watching some bizarre french film that my husband brought home from the library while I ice my shoulder.


ha...what a ridiculous thing for me to do.  My husband told me that maybe I shouldn't run out the back door so quickly without even looking.  Yeah, thanks for the advice.

Awesome two days off

Think happy thoughts...even when your shelf breaks and a full costco size container of Mr. Yoshida sauce and soy sauce spills all over your pantry. You know what made that shelf fall? When I added a bag of powdered sugar to the shelf...not cool. So I put my extra flour, sugar, everything for baking container on the floor (since it was heavy) spent 30 minutes scrubbing the floor, and replaced the clips in the wall and fixed the shelf.

I spent forever today cleaning. Seriously. My parents were here Saturday and Sunday (left at 3:30 on sunday). We had an awesome time hanging out, painting (pictures of the finished bedroom to come soon) and just talking. My mom and I got our hair cut at Gene Juarez ( I will post pictures of us soon...after I make my mom take a picture of herself!) We both love our haircuts!

Anyway, I cleaned today after my parents left, first the mess in the pantry, then three loads of laundry, then cleaning up all the paint supplies and vacuuming, then loading and unloading the dishwasher, then organizing papers, and finally putting away all the stuff of mine that my parents brought from Moses Lake. Then I made Amber's recipe of Taco Soup for dinner. So yummy and filling.

Hope you ladies had an awesome weekend!

Ps. I love my accent wall!

baby girl!

no, I'm not having one.  BUT, now that the house is set up, I was able to take advantage of Shea's nap today and get started on some baby shower gifts.  I made this sleep-sack today out of an old sheet, tank top, and a flannel scrap I was given.  It feels so good to make something out of recycled items!

I haven't really gotten much else done today but relax.  The only thing on my cleaning checklist I've done is the dishes and made the bed.  I got to sleep in until 7:30, made breakfast for the family, read my book for a little while, took a shower, and sewed.  It feels good to just have a day to relax after this week!  Last night I last minute went and played piano for a worship night at a local church that Jeremy's parents were leading at, and then we had a teenager over to hang out until about 11PM. Jer's parents and one of his brother's families (who were also at the worship night) stopped by to check out the house and fixed Jeremy's computer for us.

In other news, Shea took a big tumble down the stairs today.  He's become such a pro, we got a little complacent and didn't watch him come down the stairs.  We just heard him hit the bottom after it was too late.  At least we had a big plush throw pillow at the base of the stairs and he didn't hit the tile.  He was just pretty scared and needed lots of hugs and kisses from mommy.  But, what happened just 5 minutes later?  There he goes, up the stairs.  Looks like he's being much more cautious coming down now though...so hopefully it will give him a kind of healthy fear of the stairs.

Now I feel like I need to go get some cleaning done...I had no idea a house took so much more work than an apartment to maintain on a regular basis! Maybe I need to lower my standard a little bit.

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

I WILL GET THINGS DONE TODAY

Sorry for the all caps. I know you girls have been thinking of me and my lack of motivation for...well, anything. It hasn't been getting better, but it hasn't been getting worse. Somehow I have managed to keep the downstairs looking mostly decent, most of the time. I apologized to Joe last night and he said "it hasn't been that bad".

I don't feel confident enough to make a complete list of what I'm going to do, but I'll start with a few things and add to it:

• Poetry analysis paper, the last assignment before I am officially off school for a week.
• Do kitchen daily chores.
• Clean up desk area (I'm hoping this will motivate me to get things done at my desk more.)
• Shower
  

I just finished breakfast, good for me. I am ashamed how late I slept in - not because I was tired but because it was cold outside the covers. And I was having such interesting dreams, they were keeping me more entertained than a movie! Every time I half woke up, I'd go back to sleep just to continue with the dream. Shameful.

Edit, 12:10

I just got a significant start on my paper! I am so glad I got all my sources together last week and made an outline. I even copied and pasted material from every source I intended to use - so in the same document I have all my sources ready to go, the paper requirements, all my works cited information, and my outline. I really made it easy for myself and I'm proud of what I've written so far.

I started a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher and started a load of dishes.

Now I am drinking chamomile tea. I know; herbal tea at noon?! But I've had this weird phenomenon lately where even though I'm tired all the time, I am also extremely tense in my right shoulder. I had a horrible headache all day yesterday from this tension. Joe rubbed it for me and it felt like I had a log going from my chest through my neck into my brain. I went to the gym, sat in the sauna, took a nap, stretched, put heat on it, relaxed with Psych, and drank a margarita - absolutely nothing helped. Joe was able to make it feel a little better last night but now I can feel it twisting up again.

I'm sorry, I feel like I'm complaining about a lot of physical stuff lately! But it's reallllly bothering me! I feel like a half-invalid: I can walk but not run because of my ankle; I can chew but not yawn because of my jaw, and I have the ability to get things done but half the time my head is killing me and nothing will help! NOTHING I TELL YOU!

Okay, okay. Sip of tea.

Looks like the house will close March 28! Right now the things I am looking forward to most are:

• No trains
• Angela

Yes, that's it for now.

Quick funny

When we went to the Home Show a couple months ago, we signed up for a lot of drawings, so we've been getting a lot of calls to "verify our information". Here's one that just happened.

Him: "Hi, I'm calling from [construction company] and we just need to verify your information for the drawing on April 1."
[We verify information]
Him: "We're also offering you a free assessment on your home. Is it wood or brick?"
Me: "Sorry, we're not interested."
Him: "But it's a free assessment!"
Me: "We're moving."
Him: "Why would you say that, ma'am?"
Me: "Because we made an offer on a house and it got accepted."
Him: "Oh. Hope you're the lucky winner, bye."

I wanted so badly to post it on Facebook but we're not announcing the move to everyone yet. So you get to hear aobut it instead.

my week in review

WOW what a week!  We are all settled in our new place, but it was a lot of work to get to this point!  I am so thankful I had the week off.  Here's what our week looked like!


We did manage to have some fun outside before all the moving craziness.  Here we are walking downtown Port Orchard.  Shea was SO interested in the seagulls, it was funny to watch him chase them.

Monday:  Filled up our cars with a load of stuff, drove to house, signed lease and picked up keys.  Jumped up and down with excitement.  Unpacked cars.  Drove back to apartment, took another load.  My mom and I set up the kitchen while Jeremy kept picking up loads in his car.


Tuesday:  Started moving loads by car, then decided to find out if we could get our truck a day early, since everyone was saying it was going to snow on Wednesday.  Picked up the moving van at noon, then my friend Susan came over and helped us load up.  We got back to the house at about 2:30 and were done unloading by 3:30.  It started snowing and was hailing half the time, but at least it wasn't as cold as it was on Wednesday.  Jeremy's sister and three daughers stopped by with his mom.  We drove with her and the truck back up to Indianola to their house and picked up another load of furniture they were giving us.  Then we got back at 5:30 and unloaded the truck.  We tried to take the truck back that night, but the gate was closed, so we came back home, had dinner, and spent our first night at our new house!  We stayed up until about 11:30 unpacking, and got a lot done.


Now, the rest is just unpacking, unpacking, unpacking!  So I'll show you pics of all our rooms.  This was my motivation to get everything set up.  If I finished a room, I took a picture :)   The pictures are not great quality, there are a lot of them and I didn't feel like editing.  Oh well.


Here is the den/mud porch.  This is kind of my little work space and entrance area.  Shea has a little table that doubles as a home for my printer.  He likes to sit and scribble while mommy does her "work".  Its so nice to have the big window with all the light and a place to put my purse (it's the little things).

Here is our dining area/living room.  The table we got from my in-laws.  I'm on the lookout for a set of dining chairs I can recover.  It gets really big with the leaf too, I think we could fit almost 12 around it if we had to.  And the plastic gate in front of the fireplace is going to have to go.  I noticed this morning it was hot and the inside was all melted...I didn't think it was that close.  Oops.  

 My favorite part:  Our big open kitchen!  Oh how luxurious.  I actually LIKE to clean it after every meal because it just feels so nice to be in and actually looks nice when cleaned.  We have had several meals together now at the table and Shea thinks its the greatest thing sitting at a table and eating with his parents.  So good for our family, it makes me happy.  I also love all the dancing space (everyone dances in their kitchen, right?)

This is my new cleaning chart that I made too.  Kinda hard to read, but I love seeing all the check marks at the end of the day, and it looks so nice and clean in the frame.

Here is Shea's room.  Some stuff still needs to be hung, and the dresser needs to be re-finished and have a drawer fixed, but I love it.  It looks cuter in person.  I'm going to hang a big flag pendant banner on the blank wall over the crib, and hopefully find a small bookshelf for his books, because he loves to look at them and I have nowhere to put them.  But its good for now!

This is the upstairs rec-room.  Nothing fancy.  Last night we watched a movie up there, and it is so nice to have an area to just sit and veg.  And its great not caring about any of the furniture up there, because I'm sure we'll have youth hanging out up there all the time.  Jeremy's desk corner isn't completely set up yet, hopefully we can find a bigger desk at some point.

Here's my laundry/craft room.  Its attached to the bathroom.  Small, but functional!

Bathroom:

Looking from front door into main living area:

Looking at front door - stairs to the right go up to the loft.

Hallway looking toward bedrooms/kitchen

And our bedroom (don't mind the funny clothes I'm wearing, I was freezing and just threw on whatever I could find)

And this was what our back deck/yard looked like this morning.  So pretty :)

PHEW.  So there you have the tour!  And I still have lots to do today, can't believe my week off is almost over!

Hi =)

Now we're getting the house again. What happened = weird. The first lien holder offered to give the second lien holder $3000. The second lien holder wanted $10,350, and the first said No Way.

But the second offered an incentive: If somehow they could get up to that amount, they would dismiss the seller's debt, which was between $75,000 and $100,000 (incredible, considering the second lien holder doesn't even hold the mortgage...!)

So our agent called with this proposal.

The first lien holder would pay the $3000 they promised.
The sellers would scrape together $2000.
The listing agent would sacrifice $1000 of her commission.
Our agent would sacrifice $1000 of his commission.
If we would meet the rest, $3350, everyone would be happy.

So we did it!

No word yet about closing dates, and we haven't signed anything yet. But I did start packing yesterday (kind of)! I brought down a box of Joe's stuff and he went through it.

My ankle and my jaw still hurt. =(

The bathroom looks about the same except they boarded up the floor so there isn't a hole there anymore.

Joe's birthday is in 11 days! I have a few things planned, nothing big. I'd like to have a family dinner, but Joe doesn't want to have people over with our bathroom in the state it is (and tools laying about everywhere and stuff). Maybe we can convince Angela to hostess! =)

Oh! School is over tomorrow and I have all next week off! And Joe and I are going to stay Monday night at a bed and breakfast in North Bend! Found a good deal and grabbed it!

Stay warm,

Ambah

Trying to decorate with no supplies...

So this empty wall was really bugging me, and I tried to make a big decoration for it, and couldn't stand how it looked like a poster. I really need some more of those big frames (same ones I need for the living room) so I can decorate, but until then I came up with another plan!

It looks really small in the top picture but in reality it fits the room nicely. I am happy with how it turned out. :) Scrapbooking paper and a couple of frames can go a long way.

I've been a sickie...

Yesterday I felt like hell. I had worked the last two days not feeling so great, taking sudafed and tylenol to stay alive but yesterday (which thankfully I had off) topped it all. I slept till 11 something, then woke up ish, laid some more and played on the computer, got up, ate a lunch of chili and chips and salsa (I don't have a flu bug, just a horrible head cold), then made cinnamon rolls while waiting for the furniture people to arrive!

My cinnamon rolls didn't rise in the hour they were supposed to but I cooked them anyway and they turned out absolutely delicious! :)

The furniture was supposed to come between 12 and 3...and it didn't come till 2:30 of course. Even though I was sick I really wanted to go to goodwill and look for side tables and random picture frames. I LOVE the new furniture. So much more comfortable, fits wayyyy more people and is overall amazing. Now to decorate that blank wall...I have been coming up with some ideas, nothing positive yet.

I had to move the little storage thing from the living room to the eating area and I like how it looks!

Here is the living room, I love walking down the stairs and seeing furniture instead of an empty room! I cant wait to put those pictures I posted earlier (and below) up on the wall. I actually have to redraw them because they are the wrong size for the frames I am going to buy but still, I can't wait!

Yes I realize I posted the same picture in both collages, woops, but I wanted to reshow you my drawings because I am just so excited to put them up...and I didn't want to go fix the collage. Haha. :)

Paul had to work today at 8 am, he came home at 1:45, we went to costco and I made him lunch, it is now 3:15 and he is headed out to finish the schedule for work . He is braving it through the blizzard! Haha. He has a friend coming over tonight to help him work on his car, and then maybe we will chill and watch a movie, and then go to bed earlier because my poor husband has been working a ton and I am sick and need all the sleep I can get to recooperate in time to work tomorrow. (and I have to work tomorrow because if you don't work your first scheduled day before and after a holiday (in this case presidents day) they won't pay you your double time. So not ok.

Hope you ladies are having a wonderful week!

screwed! =P

Now we don't know if we're getting the house. The second lien holder wants us to pay an extra $10,000. Our agent said that their agent may not have been completely honest with us.

Sigh...all this drama! Yet I am confident that it's part of God's plan. We will not pay a penny more. We "stuck it to the man" before and we can do it again. God has pretty obviously shown his hand in all this, so I'm not worried, whatever the outcome.

I ran a ten minute mile yesterday! But when I stepped off the treadmill, what had been a slightly annoying pain on the top of my ankle turned into a very painful thing to even walk on! I iced it and I won't be running till it's better. I'm still going to drag Joe to the gym today...I think I'll try cycling and see if that hurts it, since my ankle won't be supporting the weight of my body. If it does hurt it, I think I'll just do resistance today...probably just arms too. Boooring. And then I'll sit in the sauna for a loooong time! =D

Living in the present (or trying to)

Today was enjoyable. I didn't get a ton of things done but there were a lot of little happy things. Thanks to becca's reminder (see her comment in my last post) I've been more conscious of the "little things" lately.

I haven't been doing my card file thing lately, but I'm starting it up again. I was kind of scared to because I'm so behind on things. So...I put all the cards in the back, cleaned the kitchen, and put the "clean kitchen" card in tomorrow's "to-do". I'll start with the little things and work up from there and try not to get behind again. It'll take a little while to catch up.

Moving is a motivator though!

We bought some shipping supplies today so we can start to sell our unwanted books on Ebay. I'm excited to have less junk around here and more cash!

I had a lovely conversation with my mother in law today when we took my car up there so Joe could work on it. $400 later we have my car back with a flushed air intake system, new air filter, new spark plugs, air in the tire, and my car is washed. Not that being washed helps it run better. I ate way too much sugar today, that's okay - I'm going to the gym tomorrow for sure!

Oh - and I'm feeling better now. I was still feeling pretty sick up until about noon. Took a nap and felt better!

Oh and I'm going to start going to a women's bible study on Tuesdays! Apparently they're mostly my age - some married and some not. =)

Love you girls.

Taking a break! and a happy Saturday!

Oh girls, was it sunny by you today?  We had the most beautiful day today!  And evening last night!

Last night after getting a good chunk of packing and deep cleaning done, Jeremy and I cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie.  This morning, we got to sleep in until 7:30!!  Ha, yes, that is sleeping in, thank you.  Shea went to bed late, so he slept in, which was nice.  I got up and made us blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a cup of english breakfast tea.  This made for a great morning!  Then Jeremy watched Shea while I got ready for the day.  I wasn't feeling great (that time of the month - at least I am not preggo :P ), but when I saw the sun outside I was sure it would be a good day.


I got the following things done while Jer stayed home with Shea:

• Cleaned out and vacuumed my car (I haven't done this in over a year! YIKES)
• Dropped off some giveaway items at Goodwill that have been in my car for months...
• Went to Les Schwab and got my tires filled up (there was a screw in my back tire that they fixed for free.  They're so nice down there) and got a quote for getting new tires.
• Went to Wal-Mart and got shelf liner and some cleaning products to clean up the apartment with before moving out.  I also got a new wind-breaker for $4.50 which makes Jeremy happy because I always steal his.

After this, we all went for a family walk.  We stopped by my parent's apartment to say hi, and then walked down to Safeway.  We were going to get a coffee at Starbucks, but didn't feel like it, because we knew Shea wouldn't want to sit still in there.  We just bought some bread for the week and then went out to Wendy's for lunch (Shea almost never gets chicken nuggets, so he was in toddler heaven).  Then we walked back home.  Shea fell asleep in the stroller so he went right to bed when we got home for a nap.  

I probably should have done some more packing, but you know WHAT? I felt like doing nothing for like 4 hours.  So I decided to just go VEG.  I was freezing cold and crampy and wanted to eat bad food.  sooo, I watched part of a movie with Shea, ate some junk food, and then took a bath.  I felt better after that, so I did eventually pack up most of Shea's room, clean the oven and all of our bottom cabinets/drawers in the kitchen, and finish all the slides for church tomorrow.

PHEW what a day.  What a good day!  It was so refreshing to just spend time with my family and also get things done and have ME time.  I would call this a good start to my sabbath.  Tomorrow I'm going to try and finish cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.  Trying to make it less overwhelming on the day we move out.  And now, I am going to cuddle with my lovely husband and read our book together.

Having trouble getting started

I didn't sleep well last night. Someone was (accidentally) hogging the covers so I was freezing, and someone else (deliberately) was constantly changing cuddle positions. I woke up early to make lunch for Joe and drive him to work. Tried to go back to bed but the phone kept ringing every five minutes.

Yesterday I ran another 2.5 miles at the gym! I felt REALLY good mentally with a "runners high" but a little queasy and I'm still kind of feeling it. It doesn't help that my jaw has been a lot worse the last two days.

And this is part of the reason why it's 3:30 PM and I've hardly accomplished anything today. The other part of the reason is that I'm lazy and have a ton of excuses. I was talking with Angela last night about how hard it is to know when to give yourself a break because of valid reasons, and when you're using those "valid reasons" to get away with more than you should. Usually you have to push yourself despite those "valid reasons" - you still have to go to work, go to school, be a mom, be a wife. You might have very valid excuses but sometimes it's up to you whether you claim them or not.

At the same time there has to be some grace for yourself. I know so well how horrible your life can be if you're constantly pushing yourself, never satisfied with yourself, not letting yourself make mistakes.

Obviously I've been very introspective lately. =) thanks for listening.

Here are my goals for the rest of today:

• BIOL quiz 3
• BIOL lab and report
• ENGL response 1
• ENGL response 2
• Dishes
• Gym if I finish everything here!

I don't have to go to the gym today but I'd much rather go than do all this stuff - so today, gym is my reward.

Oh, and I thrive on comments. So please encourage me. You all know my love language is words!

Edit:

I don't know what's wrong with me but I still feel like vomiting and I have cold sweats and am shaking. Went back to bed and couldn't get warm. Feel like crap. Herbal tea for me now.

Sitting at starbucks with my love.

I meant to post yesterday but things got super busy with errands, cleaning, and then having the family over for dinner! But here have been my last few days!

Paul and I went out to an early Valentines day dinner on the 13th because I had to work the 14th. When we got home from dinner I wanted to take pictures of us together because he was all dressed up from work and I was dressed up because of church...needless to say he wasn't very cooperative. Haha.

Here is our dinner, I was so mad (ok not really mad) but my camera wasn't working most of the time we were there (Paul was thrilled). I spent the meal trying to take pictures...and when the camera finally did take one they were all blurry. Finally I decided to shoot on manual and everying started working. I think the second focus thing had gotten a little stuck or something. Anyway, my camera is fully functioning again! Oh and dinner was delicious and I ate three meals out of my meal that cost 10.50. :)
Here is the chair I bought at goodwill yesterday for 3.99. It had that nasty fabric on it that is in the trash can (it doesn't look as ugly in the picture as it did on the chair, but you will just have to trust me. It was a cheap stretchy fabric. I recovered the chair with some teal fabric I had gotten a few years ago that I made some pillows out of. I hammered the fabric onto the bottom of the chair with pushpins (I totally didn't have the right materials to recover a chair but that didn't stop me!) So now our spare bedroom looks way more complete and absolutely adorable with just a 3.99 addition. Love.

I finally got around to writing some thank you notes yesterday to people who have already given us housewarming presents. :) I learned from my momma that just a simple stamp on the front of an envelope makes it look so much more adorable! I love the birdie stamps I got for christmas (from my momma) :) .

Oh and while I was writing these cards I looked like a total creeper. One of the windows in my craft room looks over to the neighbors house and I can see all the boys (there were 6 out there) playing basketball, chatting and having a grand ol time. I can't wait to see y own kids out there!!

I had planned yesterday to be my productive day, here are the things on my to do list that I accomplished:

• clean the shower doors (the have some hard water stains)
• clean kitchen sink (hard water)
• vacuum house (hard floors and carpet)
• call health insurance to make sure they are correctly processing a claim
• call and cancel internet on pauls phone
• write my friend Tasha (best friend from 3rd to 5th grade) back!
• close out chase checking account
• return a hair cutter thing to target
• return some screws to home depot and buy paint for hallways and bedroom
• pay car insurance
• pay Home owners association dues
• write thank you cards to three lovely people
• finish the last load of laundry
• take out all the trashes and take the recycling and trash to the curb
• take a box of junk to goodwill (and then buy a chair for fun!)

It felt so good to get everything done that I haven't had time to do!!

At 3:30 I called Paul and asked if he wanted to have people over for dinner, he said sure, then I called Steve, Kathy, Joe and Amber and they all said they would come over at 6! We had homemade pizza, salad and then coffeecake for dessert. It was so fun, spur of the moment, and it worked out perfectly. Steve and Kathy left at 9, then Joe, Amber, Paul, and I played four person cribbage. The girls won a game and the boys won a game, it was so much fun!!

Amber and I were chatting in the kitchen for a while just loving the fact that the Fernandez family was sitting in the family room, chatting, talking, and having a good time. They were laughing so much! It was the adorable. Amber made the mistake of telling Paul and Joe it was cute (which it totally was) but they hate to be cute! Haha. Anyway, it was so good to have people over, enjoy the house, and feel close to family. I only wish my parents lived closer. Maybe someday.

And here we are today, driving to Seattle to get Paul's civic cleaned. We are going to sell it and well, it needed a good inside cleaning since it has been sitting untouched for so long and well, it had a little water leak and um had a bit of mold growing inside. In a few short hours it will be as good as new. :) Paul and I are sitting in Starbucks right now enjoying free wifi and sun streaming in through the windows. I am drinking the tea I made at home (because I made it before I knew we were coming to starbucks) and Paul had a strawberry blended lemonade. Super sour, super yummy.

It has been a wonderful day so far and soon more wonderfulness will happen. I am visiting with my friend Carmen this afternoon who I haven't seen in forever since she lives in Spokane! She got married this August and has been kind of lonely over in cheney, we will have some good girl chat time.

I hope all you girls are having a fabulous friday!

Iheart fridays!

I love Fridays.  Jeremy has to be to a meeting at 6AM, which means we both get up early to get ready for the day (Shea always wakes up when our bedroom door opens - its very loud - and doesn't always go back to sleep).  So I was up and ready by 6AM, and Shea woke up happy and cheerful just as Jer was leaving.  I made us some blueberry pancakes and had a latte.  Shea devoured it.  I love watching him eat.  He has become SUCH a good eater and eats almost anything I give him now.  


Last night I made twice baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, and a tossed fruit "medley" (fresh blueberries, strawberries, fuji apples, and a little bit of banana).  He ate all of it!  Especially the asparagus.  That makes me happy, and makes me feel like a good mom for once.  He has been eating WAY too many hotdogs lately.  I'm hoping when we move and have a bigger kitchen I'll cook more dinners.  Plus we'll have an actual table (what a luxury, ha)  so we can sit down and eat together as a family.  Hard to get motivated to cook meals when you have to stand at the kitchen counter to eat them.


Anyway!  I am happy for a nice long morning and happy that it is my last day of work for a whole week!  AND so excited to be getting our keys and start moving on Monday!  I should take a picture of our dining room right now.  It is piled high with boxes.


I'm hoping and praying, praying that today little Zachary does better in class than he did on Wednesday.  And I'm sure both Audree and I will be ready for our break next week!


Have an awesome weekend!

OMG WE GOT THE HOUSE

So now I can type, we were about to take my car to Mazda when we found out.

The second lien holder should approve it by the end of the week. And they want to close by mid-March. That means we could be moving in about a month!!!!

I had gotten up early to take care of the Comcast stuff and let the plumber in while Joe slept in, so I went back to bed for an hour, setting the alarm for 10:15. At 10 Joe came in and said "it's time to get up" and I was like "I have fifteen more minutes on my alarm" and he said "okay" and left.

Five minutes later he came in, stood in the doorway and said, "Get. Up." I was like "No, I have ten minutes left." He smiled and said "Get. Up." I was like "why"? He said GET UP NOW. So I did and he led me to the computer, sat me in the chair and had me read the email that said they accepted our offer! It seemed so surreal!

Our realtor was so excited he misspelled our email address three times in his attempts to tell us!

Today's plan

I feel so good for getting everything on my list done yesterday! I don't know how long it's been since I've done it. I'm so glad for this blog and you ladies holding me accountable - not that you'd yell at me if I didn't finish, but your encouragement and knowing that I have to report back to the blog...!

Here's the plan for today in school:

• ENGL discussion post
• BIOL quiz 3
• BIOL response 1
• BIOL response 2

Here's the plan for today in cleaning:

• Vacuum downstairs floors
• Organize bedside
• Go through fridge

Here's the plan for today in cooking (Joe's off today):

• Breakfast: oatmeal
• Lunch: Grilled pastrami-swiss
• Dinner: Chicken Parmigiana

Here's the plan for non-school, non-house things:

• Pay water bill
• Pay comcast bill
• Call florist (from the wedding, I can't find my receipt)

And here's the plan for out of house things:

• Get shipping supplies from Office Depot so we can sell our books on ebay
• Gym!
• Take my car to Mazda

And here are other things that happen to be going on today:

• Comcast picking up our old modem sometime between 8 am and 8 pm
• Waiting for call from the church (I can't find any evidence I ever paid our wedding fees - no receipt. They said they'd call between 9 and 12.)
• Mazda appointment at 11.
• Plumber coming sometime in the next hour to start repiping!

Hm, that really is a lot. I should get started on my schoolwork. =)

Edit: 8:50 AM

I did my English discussion post!
I did my biology response post 1!
I did my biology response post 2!
The church called me with my wedding fees which I did pay, yay!
Comcast is outside and we're just waiting for them to come to the door to pick up the modem! ...and now they did!

Edit: 11:44 AM

Took the car to Mazda and the plumber has started. Here's what's left for today:

• BIOL quiz 3
• Vacuum downstairs floors
• Organize bedside
• Go through fridge
• Lunch: Grilled pastrami-swiss (I don't have enough for the plumber, Joe, and Joe's dad, so it will be some grilled turkey-cheddar as well.
  
• Dinner: Chicken Parmigiana
• Get shipping supplies from Office Depot so we can sell our books on ebay
• Gym!
• Pay water bill
• Pay comcast bill
• Call florist (from the wedding, I can't find my receipt)

Finally.

Hi girls!

Finally I am done with midterms.  I only had them on Tuesday and Wednesday, so two days, but those two days felt like a week.  I only have one more class on Friday, and then I'm off for a week!  Thank goodness for a break from school!  So today I accomplished a lot, I wrote two midterms (by 1 pm), went to a lunch meeting with the campus ministry chaplain I volunteer with, had a leadership study meeting, and helped prepare the soup supper for students.  As I type my bathtub is getting filling up...my plan is to soak, help all my tense muscles relax, get into pjs and fall asleep in bed with fresh sheets.

I realized that now I have time to get my haircut!  Its been bugging me lately, but I have been too busy with school to go to the salon.

I have a bit of an update on Justin's interview.  He said it went well, but he's up against 10 other people, and the firm is going to pick three for a second interview, and then make their decision.  So he'll find out next week if he makes round too.  Part of me feels so confident that he'll get the job, because he's Justin and he's great!  But I know that the interviewers don't know him like I do...

signing off for now, hope you ladies are doing well!

craazy day at preschool

Oh. My. Goodness.


Today was out of control!


We have a new boy who started a few weeks ago in our 4's class.  He is generally good at doing his work - even though he didn't know how to spell his name yet when he started - and sometimes, we have to coax him a little bit to do things when he's not interested...but today.  There was no redemption.


By the end of the day, he was throwing chairs, signs, books, pillows (totally ruined the book reading corner) and was running around like a maniac.  Audree (the main teacher), literally had to hold him down and she was freaked out that he was going to bite her or run and hurt someone.  And we had 6 other kids in the classroom!  It was so disruptive.  I took over teaching and she went out into the hallway and tried to call the mom and/or nanny, but none of the phone numbers worked or they didn't answer.  So basically, she couldn't teach anymore and had to hold the kid down for 30 minutes until the nanny came to pick him up.  It wasn't like we could just put him in "time-out" because he wouldn't stay there, and we didn't want him to get hurt.  She tried like every tactic we know of...she talked with him during the first issue and kept him in during recess (he wouldn't finish his work, so he had to stay in to do it) and it seemed like he learned his lesson.  Nope.  He was outright defiant.  She talked to him, prayed with him, offered him a hug...but he just didn't want to obey.


And, worse of all, one of the mom's was in the classroom during it.  She was there to bring cupcakes for her daughters birthday.  And she's a teacher at the school we rent from.  Great.  Awesome.  We looked like the best teachers ever, I bet.


I felt so bad for Audree.  I wish I could've done more, but I mean, what could I have done?  She is the one who has to talk to the parents and set the standard for discipline in the classroom.  All I could do at the end of the day was offer a hug and tell her I thought she did what was best.


Geez, its days like this that I am glad I'm just the aide and can come home and mostly forget about it.  I don't have to talk to the parents or work out a strategy for next time.  I hope they come up with a solution though, because it just makes for a crazy day constantly fighting with this kid!

Life is fragile.

I have a ton of stuff to post, but not enough time to say everything today, but I do want to share something that is on my mind (and the v-day pictures and cute little stories will come tomorrow).

When I went into work on monday I found out a resident who had been there long before I started working at the facility had passed away on Sunday. She was very loved by her family, her husband visited every day, doted on her. Her son came in to visit often, and was good at making arrangements for his mom and dad. On Sunday, shortly after putting the resident to bed one of the aids went and got the charge nurse to say she was looking funny. The charge nurse went down, the residents face was beat red. While standing there she stopped breathing, they grabbed the 02 saturation machine to make sure, sure enough the oxygen level in her blood was dropping and she wasn't breathing. The charge nurse ran to get the oxygen tank while the aids and another nurse brought the resident to the floor and started CPR (because the resident no longer had a pulse). 911 was called, and during the 15 minutes waiting for the paramedics to arrive, rib breaking cpr was performed. When the paramedics arrived they cut off her clothes, put iv's in her legs to give her meds to jumpstart her heart, and took over cpr. They took her to the ambulance and she died in route to the hospital. She died, clothes cut off, ribs broken, body soon to be bruised, iv's jammed everywhere at the age of 90. She had a stroke. I don't know if I could put my loved one through their last minutes of life in that fashion. This story has been on my mind since I heard it. It makes me sad, it makes me want to cry, it makes my heart break for her husband, who is bound to pass away not long from now do to the hearbreak of losing the love of his life.

Life is fragile.

I spoke too soon

Last night I was bragging about how I don't get sore from going to the gym anymore, but yesterday and the day before I must have overdone the running and the leg exercises because my legs are sooo sore today! It's a good sore - not as painful as it was before, and it shows that I'm workin my muscles - but that's the last time I brag I don't get sore!

At least my arms and abs aren't sore. Legs don't hurt when you don't move them, and I have several hours of sitting-down to do today for school.

Usually when I run, it's my lungs that give out before my legs. When I did my long run the other day it was my legs that were tired, so that's a good sign that my cardio is helping my body! That was my main goal in working out: endurance. I know running for half an hour doesn't seem like much but I used to barely be able to run for ten minutes!

So, today. My three school goals are:

• BIOL discussion post
• BIOL quiz 2
• ENGL essay - research and outline

My house goals are:

• Catch up on laundry
• Complete downstairs tidying (I've slowly been working on it)
• Clean upstairs bathroom

My non-house, non-school goals are:

• Catch up on tithing
• Call comcast
• Pay doctor bill (I was trying to figure out why my lab bill was for three tests instead of just a pap test. Turns out she tested me for STD's, I didn't know she was going to! Still, kind of funny to me. =) I guess it's standard though. Next time I'll just ask her not to do it.

I am dreading most of the things on my lists but I know I have the capacity to do them. Gonna grab a cup of tea now and try to find my first source for my research paper. Oh how I hate my poetry class.

Edit, 12:10 PM.

I've researched for my english essay the last two hours...found three sources, and consumed two cups of tea. I need five sources but The Internet is being dumb right now. Feeling discouraged. Breaking for lunch. At least the kitchen is mostly clean from what I did yesterday!

Edit, 1:15 PM.

Had lunch, found another source, and I'm on my third cup of tea. I keep visiting Facebook, but at least I can only waste so much time on there! Last week I had Joe change the password for my computer game account (I couldn't figure out a way to delete it). I don't miss it as much as I thought I would! Sure I look for other ways to waste time, but somehow I'm more in the real world now. Those games can be so addicting.

The plumber is here setting up stuff for tomorrow. He is so cute, I think I've told you about him before. I said "Can I get you some coffee" and he was like "Yes, awesome!" and gave me two thumbs up. He's so enthusiastic! And every time I offered him food he was like "nah I'm fine" so at lunch time I made him a sandwich and just brought it out to him and he was so thankful! I love seeing people eat, especially working men. That's probably what motivates me to get up every morning and make Joe lunch.

I'm totally procrastinating. I just need ONE more source...

Edit, 2:14 PM.

Got my sources and my outline, I'm done with the essay for this week (not due till next week but I was dreading it so much...and I think I have a C average in the class so I want to do well on my final paper).

I've got a load of laundry in the washing machine - the last load that was on the laundry room floor (so sad I know) and there's at least one more load upstairs. At least the floor is clear now and I don't have to stare at dirty clothes.

On to cuppa tea #4 and a biology quiz! I can't believe I'm not over-caffeinated yet. But yesterday I got some really good sleep. I took an hour nap yesterday after working out, AND I went to bed at 11:30 (Joe stayed up till 1 - I think this is the first night in our marriage that I haven't stayed up with him! Sometimes I fall asleep on the couch next to him, but I actually went TO BED before him! I'm kind of proud of myself!)

Edit: 3:04 PM

Just finished my biology quiz. I also paid my doctor bill. What do I have left to do today? Let's review:

• BIOL discussion post
  
• Catch up on laundry
• Complete downstairs tidying (I've slowly been working on it)
• Clean upstairs bathroom
• Catch up on tithing
• Call comcast

Edit: 3:50 PM

I just called Comcast, which I was really dreading, to resolve an issue. Two years ago when I added Comcast's "digital voice" system to my internet, their technicians came to install a new modem and took the old one. However, Joe recently noticed on our bill they've still been charging me to rent both modems, even though I haven't had the other one for two years! When I called Comcast about it they were so rude, saying it was our fault, and are we sure that we gave it to the technicians, and we have to pay a fee now for "losing" the old modem. It was so frustrating that we didn't get anything resolved because I was near tears.

So you can imagine I was dreading the call today. But you know what? I got the NICEST customer service rep! I told her the story and she sighed and said "I wish I was surprised, but it's not the first time I've heard that story - I'm so sorry, it's not your fault." There's still a few things for me to do to fix it, but she's mailing me a form and everything will be taken care of soon. I thanked her again and again, and told her about my prior experience and she said "Yeah, people here can be so hostile, it's just such a stressful time nationwide". I told her I respected her for having a CSR job and she laughed and said "Oh girl, it wasn't my first choice, but I do alright." She was SO AWESOME I wanted to invite her over for tea! (Can you tell I'm starving for human contact right now?)

Anyway, I got her employee ID number and emailed customer service and talked about how great she was. I hope she gets a raise or some recognition. I mean, it's one thing to work in CS when people are always yelling at you - it's another thing to work in CS when your own coworkers are no fun to be around.

Edit: 5:21.

For the last hour and twenty minutes I've been on the phone with my dear cousin Candice! It was so nice to hear her voice. School's been crazy for her which is why she hasn't been posting and she doesn't want to post till she has pictures. I told her to post anyway, haha. Ahhh it's so good to hear from her and she's coming in the spring, so well have to plan a get-together as soon as we have dates settled!!!!

Dinner time now, then back to the List.

Edit: 8:38

I did my BIOL discussion post! And have been watching Biggest Loser on hulu while doing laundry. Excited for Joe to come home in an hour and confident I'll have it all done before then.

Edit: 9:33 PM.

Joe just pulled up. I've got the last load almost dry in the dryer, and a load of all the dirty dishes is being washed. I tidied the whole downstairs - I just have to take care of the "to go upstairs" pile. I even set out a cup of milk and the last brownie for my dear husband. Will update when everything is really done!

Edit: 10:42.

Still "almost" done - I cleaned the bathroom and that took way longer than I thought it would. I forgot the shower really needed to be done so that added time. And I had finally gotten the last load of laundry folded when the dishwasher finished..ugh! And I still haven't taken care of the pile of stuff to go upstairs.

I've decided to put the dishes away in the morning, since that wasn't part of my original list.

And I just took ten minutes and put away the clothes and put away the stuff that goes upstairs so now I'm REALLY DONE!

Thank you for being with me on this journey.

Random

Hi girls! I just have to brag about the one area of my life I've been really consistent in the last few weeks:

The Gym.

Even though I actually like going, I still consider it an accomplishment! When I first started, I couldn't run a mile without stopping, and after working out I had to take a nap. I was extremely sore the first few days, to the point of taking ibuprofin. I weighed 130 lbs.

Right now, I know I can run 2.5 miles without stopping or walking, and I don't always have to take a nap (sometimes I do - I did today, I didn't yesterday). I'm not sore at all anymore, just sometimes a little stiff but not terribly painful. And, I didn't join the gym to lose weight, but I weighed myself today: 127! Even though it's not my goal to lose weight, it was exciting to see some change. And my stomach is already flatter than it was!

I've done the schoolwork I wanted to get done today, and it's only 5 pm. I'm making Reuben sandwiches for dinner and my plans for the evening are to enjoy time with Joe and tidy the house! I'm also going to try to get Joe to show me how to list our unwanted books on Ebay. We'll make some extra money and also decrease the amount of stuff to store/move.

Car situation: Joe tried to drive my car to get the battery tested, but the car died on the way there - in almost the same spot it died for me! He carried a portable charger and made it home fine. I'm still without a car - I'll drive Joe to work again tomorrow, like I did yesterday. I kind of like it, especially picking him up after he's exhausted from a hard day since I can drive and he can just relax, and we can talk. =)

I don't know if I posted this picture yet, but here is the water-soaked bathroom floor from who-knows-how-many-years of leaking. Ew.
















The wood was removed and now there is a hole going under the house. The depth perception is kind of hard to see, but the ladder is actually resting on the house's foundation.
















Here's the piping that's going to be redone. Behind it you can see the house's original cedar walls.

















My adorable father in law:






















Remnants of a bee's nest found in the wall.





















The repiping starts on Thursday! Can't really do anything until then...today Joe asked me if there was anything he needed to do on the house that he could do, since now we're just waiting for the repipe. It usually seems like there's so much to do, but really it's just the bathroom right now!

Here's Wiggle being silly and making a weird face.
















I made molasses cookies the other day. So good! Here are the pictures I took.

I could only make four cookies at a time because they were so big!
















I don't have cooling racks so I cooled them on my tiny plates. Of course that just makes the cookies look even huger.

















I wore an apron I got for Christmas that Oma made me. Sorry my face isn't in the picture but I had a big zit.





















My pretty stack of cookies!





















And finally, a close-up:

















I made brownies last night (the molasses cookies were last week) and I followed a recipe on a blog that Angela introduced me to: Smitten Kitchen. I wanted to make the "heart brownies" featured on the main page but I thought I had white baking chocolate and I didn't. Still, I made the dark chocolate brownies because I had dark baking chocolate. I'd never made brownies with baking chocolate before, only with a mix or with cocoa powder. They turned out really good! I had to bake them for a lot longer than the recipe said; I'm all for gooey brownies, but if I want my brownies to require a spoon, I'll just heat up the batter in the microwave.

Time to go make dinner now! Love you girls, hope your Valentine's Day was awesome!