A Productive Monday

I got SO MUCH done today!  I had the whole day at home and I started out the morning with the intention to get a lot done and I actually did this time!  It's such a good feeling.

Here is a run down of my day:

Justin and I are going on a backpacking trip in two weeks.  I read online that you can dehydrate whole meals and then rehydrate them on the trip.  Since we have to carry everything in I thought this would be a good thing to try.  I made some Mexican bean and rice that we love this morning and then put in in the dehydrator.
I'm going to try rehydrating a bit before our trip just so I know that it works.  I don't want to get out into back country and try to choke down dried up rice and beans!

After I got that going I decided to finally reupholster the stool I had bought back in April.  Here are the before an after photos: 

I'm really happy how it turned out.  And it only took about 15 minutes to do, why did I wait so long to do it?  I got the fabric from a discount bin, cost me about $2 and I have some left over to use for another project.  As I was taking off the old fabric I wanted to get down to the padding to see what shape it was in, and found out it was stuffed with straw.  I'm so curious how old this is.  

Another project I finished was repainting a night stand I had bought.  Justin has a small night stand that we got from the curb but I still didn't have anything.  We actually have matching night stands with our bedroom set but we're using them as end tables in our living room because they are too wide for our bedroom.  I bought this night stand for $5 at Value Village.  I had to put about 7 coats of paint on it, so it took me all weekend.  I put a couple coats on the legs today and had Justin drill a hole for the knob. 

I also folded laundry, walked the dog, vacuumed, did dishes, and made some chocolate muffins for our lunches.  

I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow, but I can't really complain since I get a four day weekend every week. This was such a good weekend.  My niece, Morgan, was born on Saturday, and I got to see her two hours after.  Then I got to see her again on Sunday.  She is my third niece, but the other two live a four hour plane ride away.  I'm excited to have a baby niece so close! 

Hope you all had a good Monday too! 

The iphone is basically my only camera these days. I need to use my DLSR again!

Paul and I went to Moses Lake for two days (monday-tuesday) and it was wonderful.  We drove there when I got off work on Sunday.  We played a card game called dix-it, played badmitton, laid out in the sunshine, ate lots of good food,  and just enjoyed family time. 

My parents cat has never really liked to be picked up (except for in the mornings by my dad for like 3 minutes).  She tolerates you but looks awkward and uncomfortable the whole time, but I just can't help myself from picking her up.  She only weighs 7 lbs (Eric weighs 12.5) so she is so light and fun to carry around! 

I told Paul I really wanted to stop at Vantage, then after we stopped I declared it a tradition and we must do it every time if the sun is setting.  It is so so so beautiful there! 

Paul sent me this email and I nearly squealed!  A couple hours later I started watching my first episode of the new season because I got called on standby from work and didn't have to go in. Best surprise present ever! 

I have loved baking for a while now, but I am really starting to love baking!  I got a piping tip for a dollar from michaels and used it in a ziploc bag to make these cupcakes and pipe this delicious frosting on them, so much more fun than just spreading the frosting everywhere! 

Friday when I got home from work I checked the mail to find I have been summoned for jury duty in Seattle.  This is my third time being summonded in my life and the other two I got out of it because I was going to school in a different county than I was being summoned to.  Now I have no excuse, I filled out the form online and am now praying that I don't have to go and if I do I don't get picked. 8am through Seattle traffic after working the night before sounds like hell!

On a much happier note I have a new obesesion, baked donuts!  These are pumpkin donuts and they are absolutely amazing.  I only have one donut pan and it makes 6 donuts at once, so I may need another pan, but my oh my my house smelled amazing while these were baking! 

I posted on my friend Kayla's facebook wall that I missed her and wanted to hang out (she lives in Spokane) and it just so happened she was coming over to the West side this weekend for some work business and I got to see her, so so awesome when things work out like that!

I painted my nails for the first time in years!  It is so fun to look down and see bright red!  It will probably only last another day or two though because between swimming and work nail polish doesn't hold up at all! 

Paul and I went out to Senor Taco's in Federal way last night for dinner and it was heavenly.  The burritos are 5.60 and are served to you in minutes steaming hot and heavenly.  We go out monthly to dinner and decided to try some cheaper places.  Definitely one of the  best ideas we have ever had.

After dinner we went to Dash Point in North Tacoma and watched the sunset.  I love our spur of the moment dates that turn out better than any planned one ever could.  We had a blanket in the trunk so we sat on the bench and cuddled up together. It was heavenly. 

Sunset and picture time.  

Paul is getting more and more used to me taking pictures all the time but I still have to beg for a smile. He is usually trying to ignore me or look in the opposite direction, it's kinda cute actually. 

Loving getting his picture taken. 

Paul and I both got packages on the same day!  His was motorcycle parts (boring) and mine was the awesome print I ordered!  It came with a free 5x7 and I have that displayed in my craft room.  I love supporting little etsy shops! 

On Saturday Eric was following me everywhere. I had an audience while putting away the pyrex and while doing something in my craft room.  Seriously he was following me everywhere, apparently I wasn't sitting down enough for him...

I can't get enough of scenery pictures. These are a few from vantage...

And this is our drive home past the windmills before Ellensburg, my view of the mountain the other night from work, and another view of the awesome sunset at Dash point. 

 Today I was in a super organizing and redecorating mood.  I have been trying to sort and organize all the drawers and cupboards and basically everywhere throughout the house.  It was all basically organized, but now that we have lived here for 20 months I figured I could purge some stuff, and I was right.  I am trying to get rid of material possessions.  I feel like we have too much, and so much of it we never use or even look at.

The empty spare room was becoming a holding grounds for a bunch of furniture that had no home.  We have an empty nook at the top of the stairs so I decided the high chair (which was my grandfathers when he was a baby- he is currently 88) and a wagon I got from my grandparents house that has been there forever but I don't know the story behind it. 

A few months ago I had gotten a few frames at Bargain Town in Moses Lake for a few dollars. They were dirty and looked hideous but I knew they had potential!  Now they sit in my newly organized, purged, and redecorated extra room.  Basically all we do in that room is feed the cats and play darts but at least it looks super happy in there now!

And that my friends is the end.  I have to work monday through wednesday, and my crazy quad I work in will be closed for maintence so I will be floating around, but it may just be better than the insane crazyness that work has been lately! 

reasons to be happy

This morning I decided instead of going off right away to work at the school (which there is still a ton to do to get ready), I had to run out to Poulsbo to do a few errands.  The morning is really the best time (although, even that is getting hard with trying to get Hailey on a schedule).  Let me tell you.  At first, this was a rough trip.  For once, Hailey didn't cry in the car (I hung a toy up in front of her car seat, and that seemed to pre-occupy her mostly), which was good, but she would not settle down in her sling while I shopped.  So, every trip was done as quickly as I could get a three year old in and out of a cart, find what I needed and get back into the car.  All the while trying to bounce an unhappy 2 month old while people look at me and say things like, "Must be someone's lunch time" or "its okay, no one minds".  Sorry, I know these people mean well, but I was in such a mood...I wasn't starving my child or ignoring her needs and I didn't really care what other people thought, I just wanted my daughter to be happy, people!  She was just tired and maybe a little uncomfortable because it was warm out...but life has to go on anyway.  

Anyway, the day got better.  Shea was really good the whole time we were out, and when we got home I was able to get Hailey down for an hour nap and accomplish a few things.  Then notice simple things that made my day happy.

One, I did my hair (although it is kind of messy in the picture form running around with children all day) and wore a dress.  Two, my flowers that my sister brought me last Saturday are still beautiful on the table.  Three, I made a cute blanket and pendant banner for my friend's baby shower tomorrow.

Four, I made apple sauce with apples picked from our apple tree!  The jar is for Tawny when she gets home, and the pyrex is what we have left.  I probably picked about 20 apples (they are fairly small), and I got to use my awesome Foley Mill which my father inlaw bought for me a few years ago.

Five, I have several new books to read from the library (if I can find time), and Six, I found these adorable headbands in a two pack for $2.50 at WalMart!  Finally Hailey can wear something in her hair that is not PINK.

I am having so much fun working on Preschool stuff!  I have the first two weeks completely planned out and have weekly outlines for the first 5.  Tawny has so many resources that it has been so fun to grab ideas from her.  I think I'm going to learn a lot this year, and I'm excited to have my very own curriculum put together for following years.

In other news, I went to the dentist and have $1500 worth of work to get done!  I haven't been in two years, and normally I don't have that much other than a good cleaning and small cavity...this time I need 6 fillings and two deep cleanings.  I don't know how it got so bad, but I think part of it is that when I was pregnant I didn't get any preventative care done, and pregnancy can really do a number on your gums and teeth.  We're looking into other options to pay for it or bring the cost down, because we can't really afford it right now.  Jeremy's work is slowing down, so already things will be tight through the winter.

I am working at Mora for about 7 hours tomorrow night though - my boss randomly texted me because she is short staffed and several of the girls are all in a wedding.  So at least that will help out a little!

Jeremy did apply for a temporary job to get us through this slower time at his work, so pray we hear back from it!  It is a gardening job with about the same commute as he already drives.  It would be 40 hours a week and the same or more per hour as he makes now.  We are hoping something works out so we don't have to move in with his parents again...and so I don't have to go back and work at Mora on a regular basis.  I'm already not very excited about being away from my baby for so long and having to pump at work. :(

At least I know God will take care of us, even if it means not having things be exactly that way I want them to.

Work has been kicking my butt.

Work has seriously been kicking my butt.  I have never worked so hard for three days straight as I did this last week.  Every day had its own challenges.  Hard patients, busy patients, sick patients, needy patients. There is no way I could have gotten done with my work without the help my my charge nurse and resource nurse- three days straight of getting my butt kicked and then two days off.  When I came back I had a few more hard days, then Wednesday was easy.  I was so so ready for an easy day it wasn't even funny.  I am now rejuvinated enough to remember why I love nursing. :) 

Paul and I have found time to hang out between all the chaos.  We went on an hour and a half walk to watch the sunset about a week ago.  This was the night Paul found out he was getting transferred to a new store, so he ended up being on the phone for 20 minutes of the walk, but it was still beautiful and I got to pick and eat handfulls of fresh blackberries that were growing by the roadside.  Lovely evening and I am so happy and proud of my husband for moving forward with work.  This store brings him one step closer to becoming a store manager. :)

When I redid our laundry room I somehow horribly mismeasured the cabinets and had a whole extra cabinet that wouldn't fit.  It ended up working perfectly above the sink in our garage and is absolutely wonderful there!  I love having covered clean storage in a dirty and dusty garage.  And yes those are unused kitchen towels but they are the ones I hate. I have a couple packs of costco dish towels and the ones with the printed design do not dry well enough for me to want to use them in the kitchen, and plus do I really want an artichoke design on my towels?  So into the garage for wiping up random messes they go.  We have already used them many times and I love having them out there.  I am going to buy a paper towel holder that will screw to the bottom of the cabinet and am pretty stoked to have paper towels out there.  :) 

New tank top that I got for 70% off and I am finally wearing and breaking in my Toms.  Paul bought them for me a year ago on our anniversary and they weren't comfortable because they are hand stitched canvas and they needed to be stretched and worn in.  I am loving having them as "new" shoes this summer/fall. Oh and I am holding our ring paperwork because we got them redone (white gold starts to look like crap after a while...if I only knew that earlier) and now they look absolutely fabulous!  We have warranties on both our rings so we can get them recoated however often we want for free! 

Eric my lover boy being oh so photogenic. 

Last Saturday I had energy and decided I was going to try and make it to first service, I definitely made it and it was wonderful.  I had forgotten how much I love going to church in the morning and having the whole afternoon to chill and do projects.  I went to Joannes, Top foods, Target, Home Depot, Safeway, Costco, and  the library, and I still had hours to chill at the house.  

I loved my outfit so much I had to take pictures of it for you girls.  Paul said I look Indian, I still love the outfit. 

Another short walk around the neighborhood led an awesome chill time in the park.  This park is only 5 minutes from our house and we just laid/sat on the bench, fiddled on our phones and watched the dragonflies eat bugs. Quite entertaining if you havent ever tried it! 

Blackberries from my in-laws back yard.  They will probably tear out all the bushes so I have to enjoy the plunder while I can! 

Ever since Becca mentioned printing at the library when she lived in the train house I have been thinking how I should print at the library more since it is free and ink for my printer at home is so freaking expensive.  I love the laser printers and all the free printables I have been saving up.  It makes me so happy.  Now I just need a place to display them all. :) (the real plan is to change them in and out of frames I already have up around the house, but this girl can dream of having a little girls room to decorate. )

Toms getting their work out on again in a dirty greasy motorcycle store. 

On Paul's last day at his Milton Safeway store we went out to dinner at pick quik.  They have greasy burgers and fries, Paul's favorite. :)  It was a special day for my man. 

Eric has taken to sleeping in my and Paul's underwear bins.  Not cool dude, not cool. Who wants to wear cat hair covered underwear? Nobody.  Needless to say there is a bunch of extra underwear in the loads of laundry I am doing right now....

I haven't bought eyeliner or eyeshadow since I was in high school because my mom and friend Carmen are always buying things they don't like and giving them to me.  I had forgotten my mom had given me this eyeliner marker but found it right as my previous eyeliner ran out.  I did't like it the first day because let's just say it is quite a bit harder to put on and make a straight line.  I am loving it now though!  The line is so much more accurate and perfect with the marker.  Thanks mom for the free awesome product!

I have been eyeing this pens and paint etsy shop for a while now and she just put this lovely print on sale today and I couldn't pass it up .  I love absolutely everything in the shop and want it all!  Seriously if I was rich I think I could spend thousands of dollars in etsy shops.  LOVE LOve love. 

Hope you girls are having a wonderful weekend.  I work Saturday/Sunday and then Paul and I get to go to Moses Lake Monday/Tuesday!! I am quite spoiled since my mom just left Auburn (she was only here for 24 hours be we still had lots of fun!).

just a random morning post

*This was just going to be like two lines, like a glorified facebook status update, but I just kept writing.

this is one of my favorite prints (well, WORDS to remember, at any rate).  I want it above my desk.
Or in my bathroom.  Or above my dresser.  Somewhere I see it every day and remember!

Source: moneysavingmom.com via Sheryl on Pinterest

I finally got Hailey to start taking naps on her own!  That are longer than 20 minutes!  I got her down for two 2 hour naps, and then she slept 4 hours and 2 hours by herself at night.  

Which meant I was able to do some deep cleaning at the school.  And I have almost 4 weeks planned for the year.  Mostly bible lessons, because we are spending the most time on those (which is awesome), but I don't just want to read a lesson, I want the kids to get a good application and theme each week.  I think I'll "get in trouble" for spending SO much time on it, since I'm not getting paid to do this, but it is so fun for me!

So I stayed up until close to 11 working on that stuff and slept uninterrupted until 2.  When Hailey woke up and needed to be fed and changed.  Then an hour later she finally settled (She was sleeping the whole time, but not deep enough, so I was checking on her every few minutes to make sure she would stay asleep). 

Then Shea wakes up because he is scared of dragons in his closet.  Really, really, scared.  I go tuck him in and say a prayer with him and he hides under his covers as I leave.  He gets up 10 minutes later and I was ready to let him sleep in my bed so I didn't have to deal with him...but turns out, he wet the bed from fear.  I thought I wouldn't have to worry about this until he was out of diapers, but that kid peed A LOT.  So off we go to change his sheets and his clothes, and he seemed very merry and excited that he was not in bed.  He gets tucked back in a nice cozy bed, and again is scared, but he must've felt more secure, because he stayed in bed this time.

I found myself finally back in bed a little after 4.  Saying prayers for my dear son and what he might actually be seeing (I remember having an extremely vivid imagination as a child and scared of my room often.  Not to mention that we subject our small children to images that are probably much too real for them through different kinds of media).  Then Hailey woke up.  I gave up on sleep training that night and snuggled that girly in bed with me.  Which I really do love.  But I love sleeping on my stomach too and not having my hips throb from lying on one side all night and my arm asleep from her lying on it when I wake up, so that is why she is sleeping in her little crib now.

And my husband gave me coffee this morning as I stumbled out of bed.  And I had a piece of homemade blackberry coffee cake I baked yesterday.

So...its been a good morning, and hopefully I really do have the energy to go out and run all the errands I have put off every single day this week due to working on the school and mommy group things!  My sister and her boyfriend are coming over tomorrow for a visit, too, so that will be a wonderful end to my week!

Happy Friday, you working girls!!

my day today

Finally, a day at home.

Since last week, I have been working and busy every day!  Jeremy and I accomplished a lot around the house, and then we were busy out of it.  Tawny and I started cleaning out the Preschool classroom last week, and we were there the last two days for 3+ hours just constantly cleaning, sorting, dreaming, and planning.  It is a ton of work, because every thing got VERY disorganized with just one person running it and not a lot of time to keep things clean.  So we had to empty out an entire room of stuff, put it all back into the right boxes, get rid of stuff we won't use, and reorganize it into two storage closets.  It is looking a lot better, but has a long way to go still.  Did I tell you I am teaching at the preschool this year?  I'm sure I mentioned it.  We haven't sat down and planned out the year yet either, but we will get there after all this hard work is done!

We got to go up to Discovery Bay on Sunday night and then again last night.  Jeremy's parents got a condo, and its only about a 50 minute drive, so Sunday we just went up to swim and have dinner, and last night they got us to come out again for dinner and to visit with Jeremy's brother who we don't see too often.

Monday night I got together with the moms in my mom group - its been probably 3 months since we've done anything, because we've all been so busy!  A mom who just moved to Indianola at the beginning of summer came for the first time, and she's coming over for a playdate at our house tomorrow with her three year old son and 8 month daughter.  Its so fun to be able to meet people in our community who have things in common with me.  She is talking about coming to our church too, so that is exciting.

Shea and his cousin, John

Anyway, today I have been taking the morning slow.  I haven't had a shower in two days because I have been too tired to get up in the morning before Jeremy leaves for work, and then I can't until nap time usually with the kids.  We are sort of puttering around.  I need to clean the house up for tomorrow.  Shea is playing VERY nicely with his toys - I think because we haven't been home or have been outside he is more interested in them today.

I need to sew a blanket for a friend's baby shower next week - I found theses scraps and squares already cut and will probably put them together into a little mini quilt.  And I wanted to paint the bathroom counter today, since it takes three days to cure and we could use it by Saturday when my sister visits, but I don't think I'm going to get to it today, so I'll probably wait until next week.

And yes, its August and I am wearing a winter sweater.  And my glasses because I can't see today.  And drinking cocoa.  While wearing my baby, because I wear her almost 24/7 in order to get anything done.  Although, last night she did sleep in her co-sleeper by herself for a 4 hour stretch and a 3.5 hour stretch, so hopefully I can get her trained to sleep on her own for at least her morning nap by the time preschool starts, because it will be a lot easier than wearing her the entire class time.

And Shea just ran up to me because he wanted to give me a drink of his milk for some reason and dumped it all over my leg, the carpet, the computer, and the shelf.  Oh the joys of parenting.  I guess that's my hint that I shouldn't be on the computer, haha.  He was playing SO nicely though!

if you want a little laugh, listen to this http://www.prx.org/pieces/73865-two-little-girls-explain-the-worst-haircut-ever

:) good-night!