Back to Life Again

Hi Ladies!  I wanted to share a recent picture with you that I haven't posted on facebook.  This is the only one I could find.  A few days ago I went thrift store shopping with my friend and her mom.  I bought this coat for Beatrix for $1.75.  I think she liked it because she was posing so nicely for the photo.  I think this coat might actually be warm enough for her in winter.  Its surprising how hard it is to find a warm dog coat!  I don't really care about style, I just need one that will actually keep Beatrix from shivering in the cold.

So, update on my life.  I had a great visit in WA, but its good to be back home.  I hit the ground running when I got back and things are finally feeling back to normal.  We found out Justin didn't get the job in Toronto.  They had over 800 applicants!  He made the top 200...craziness.  So our lease ends Aug. 31st.  Our plan now is to find a 4 month lease.  They're a bit hard to come by, so I'm praying it will work out.  

Speaking of working out, I started running again yesterday.  My friend wants me to do at 5K (3 mile) race with her in September.  Yesterday I ran 2 miles (well, walked a bit of it).  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I figure if  I keep it up, I should be good for September.  

It was really so wonderful for all of us to hang out.  It made me wish I didn't live so far away!   I feel like since I hung out with you guys (Becca and Angela) you feel more like real people!  I had met you before, but after starting the blog I feel like I know you guys better now.  All of you ladies (Amber included) are great!  I have been blessed to learn from you and inspired to be creative and clean my house.  :)

  

Productive!

Two days ago, I:

• Cleaned the downstairs bathroom
• Cleaned the laundry room
• Organized the living room
• Vacuumed the living room
• Tidied the kitchen
  

Yesterday, I:

• Vacuumed the dining room
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Vacuumed the stairs

Today, I:

• Scrubbed the master bathroom
• Went to the library
• Took a nap
• Brought Joe his lunch at work
• Watched Grey's Anatomy

See how I put the cleaning at the start of today's list hoping you'd ignore the rest of it?

Well I still plan on getting the rest of the upstairs clean today. It's just so hot upstairs. (excuses, excuses...I spent all morning goofing off and all afternoon not cleaning because it was "too hot in the afternoon!") Pathetic.

I cleaned the bathroom naked to save my clothes from getting sweaty, and it's a good thing I did.

Taking a break now to cool off and thaw dinner. I bought some precooked breaded chicken patties at Costco and I'm anxious to see how they taste. They could be a lifesaver a few times a month when I want a quick dinner.

I also plan to run to the store before dinner.

Inspired by Candice, I am reading Ted Dekker novels now. What else would I do with time off school but read thriller mystery novels? Sooo not literary; totally inappropriate for a lit major. Whatever, it's something to do when I can't watch Grey's Anatomy since Joe's playing Call of Duty.

Grey's Anatomy: I don't think I've ever been as determined to watch a show that I like this little. I don't hate it, but it's just barely entertaining enough to hold my interest - and I can't sit and just watch it. I have to have my computer in front of me. There have been three episodes I liked so far though:

• The train wreck
• The bomb
• The heart surgery in an elevator

It's because I don't like drama, I like thrill. I'm always asking Joe to watch an action movie with me. He, however, is more intellectual and prefers to have his brain stimulated. In defense of my shallowness, I'm a student who is tired of having my brain stimulated.

In other news, I pooped today for the first time in a week. I won't give you details about how uncomfortably painful this week has been. But I am very relieved, and the feeling of my relief is so positive that I felt I must share!!!

Love you girls!

Amber

Its a lazy, pj, crafting sort of day.

My kittens love it when I craft, they think that every drawer I open is a new place to walk and every paper I move is a new toy. Silly things.

This is my craft of the day! Our "empty wall" in the dining room is now full! Yay!

The kittens saw a cat outside and they thought it was VERY interesting. Tails were whacking around everywhere. :)

I made candles today! I melted down a few candles and put them in these awesome teacups. :) They turned out awesome.

I hope you guys are having an absolutely fabulous day with this bipolar weather!

Loves

Our awesome hang out time!

Our picture turned out great, thanks Paul! I am so glad we were all able to get together not once but twice. :) Thanks Amber for all the tea and waffles!

How could you not love this little man, he is adorable!

I love you girls!

a monday afternoon

I am at Amber's house waiting for the last of my clothes to dry.  I feel like I've had a fairly productive and relaxing day!  I woke up around 7:30 and made Shea breakfast.  I worked out for 20 minutes, took a shower, and started working on laundry.  I decided to make some lentil soup for dinner tonight, so I chopped the vegetables and got them prepped for dinner before heading out to Amber's.  Shea took a nice bath, I applied for a few jobs, Amber made some awesome cheesy, chicken grilled sandwiches, and my laundry is almost done!  My mom is coming over to visit and have dinner with us tonight, since she's in the area for a meeting.  

Still haven't heard anything back about jobs - Jeremy went to Lowe's today, but sounds like they don't have any positions available anymore, but a friend of ours said they might know of something, so we're hoping to hear back from them some time soon.  I know something will work out!  I remember before we moved praying that God would work things out so that I wouldn't have to work full-time like we were originally planning, so I feel like maybe the fact that a lot of the jobs I've applied for haven't worked out may be an answer to that, and maybe Jeremy will be able to find something that will be enough!  This has been a really good time of rest and realizing what things are really important in our life.

Ok, there is the obligatory post since I used Amber's computer today (no, she didn't really enforce that rule on me).  Hope to see some of you girls tomorrow for waffles ;)

Get-together - pics or it didn't happen!

That's right. We were all four in the same room, at the same table. And despite the millions of pictures on our blog, we didn't get a picture taken!

I made everyone admins so you can all edit templates and links.

Sorry for the shortness, BYE!

Edit: Okay I'm back. Joe and I were going to spend some time together and he jokingly told me I'd better stop typing or he'd play more video games.

I put up a link to my "Calendar/To-Do" list. It's like a loosely planned schedule where nothing is actually on the correct day or time, but I generally aim to get things done on certain days. And then I don't get them done so I move them to other days. It's kind of helping me get a "big picture" of what I can realistically do. And it's all side projects and stuff, not really daily cleaning stuff like my card file. Feel free to look at how behind I am.

Alright, I have an idea. It's okay if this doesn't work for everyone, but I am officially hosting a Bragger Blogger waffle breakfast at my house on Tuesday morning at 9 am. Bring your husbands and/or kids for FREE Belgian waffles, hand-whipped cream, fruit, and real maple syrup from the heart of Vermont. We (that is, Candice and me, since Joe will unfortunately be at work) will also be serving coffee and tea and OJ.

Also let me know if you are coming.

Ugh, we just watched the most horrible movie ever. White Lightnin' - don't watch it, I mean DON'T. The beginning was pretty violent/suggestive, but Joe thought the main character's redemption would make the movie worth watching. We were both appalled; the violence became much, much worse, so that most of the movie I was covering my eyes and Joe had the volume turned down. He was even skipping parts that he didn't want to watch. Okay, I can handle the shooting, thriller violence. But minute after minute of torturing people or killing them with hammers? Yuck. Five minutes from the end we were going to just see how it ended - I mean, why not, right? At that point the character started chopping off his own fingers with an axe and cauterizing them. We turned the movie off right then.

Then we watched Scrubs to try to lighten the mood. It kind of worked; I'm still feeling kind of yucky. It doesn't help that I was already feeling yucky all day. I tried to run errands; let's just say after 20 minutes in the restroom at Target followed by 20 minutes in the Costco restroom, I decided to call it a day and go home and rest my dehydrated body.

It's been four days I've been off school. I have to remind myself of that; it's only been four days, I can't expect to get done all my plans in this first week. I haven't gotten much basic cleaning done (though I have to tomorrow because we're having company for dinner!). I did buy some bathroom stuff today like toilet lid covers (the first time I typed that "toilet seat covers" - can you imagine sitting down on a fluffy soft toilet seat? Of course you'd always have to wash and sterilize it...) and soap dispensers.

Kent Target has completely moved everything around for their new "grocery" section, coming soon. It's kind of weird.

Candice is coming in a week or so; becca's living in Kent now. I can't wait to have a Bragger get-together!