Texas vs New Mexico

A Texan and a New Mexican are sitting in a bar.

The Texan tells the New Mexican "Where I come from, the ranches are so big you can get in your truck in the morning, drive all day, and by sunset, you still haven't made it to the other end."

The New Mexican says "Yeah, I have a truck like that too."

Connecting the Dots

I was looking on Facebook today, and noticed a comment from someone I met when I first moved to San Antonio. I clicked on her profile, just to see what she was up to (yes, I Facebook stalk. It’s not a crime!), and I saw that she now has two kids! What the heck? She was just about to get married when I met her. Then I realized that I have lived in San Antonio for four and half years. That’s a really long time! It seems like it wasn’t very long ago that I pulled into town with everything I owned in a UHaul truck. The chain of events that brought me here is so crazy.

Everything happened so fast, I was here before I really had a chance to think about it. One morning I woke up and realized that I lived in Texas. I. Lived. In. TEXAS. It took a few months for that to really sink in! (It also took a few months to get over the disappointment that my chances of meeting George Strait hadn’t significantly increased…)

My favorite memory from moving here (other than my dad taking a Greyhound bus to Phoenix so he could drive my UHaul back to San Antonio – Love you pops!!) is rolling into town in the afternoon, finding my new house, and before we unpacked anything we went down to the Riverwalk. The weather was muggy and exotic feeling (Growing up in the dry desert, I associated mugginess with exoticness. Now I just associate it with bad hair days!!), and the whole river was packed with people having fun. The atmosphere was amazing, and I just couldn’t believe that I lived in such a cool place. I’m still as in love with the river as I was that day!

I had a few freak outs (mostly related to getting lost every time I left the house, seriously Texas, what’s up with these roads??), a few mornings when I woke up and wondered why the heck I had moved a thousand miles away from anyone I knew, but overall, moving here was one of the best things I have EVER done.

Looking back at the last four and a half years, I see how everything fell into place just like it was supposed to. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005

Poor People Don't Have Microwaves

I've still been thinking a lot about deserving things. I hear a lot of people complain about not having enough money, and I feel like that myself a lot. Whenever I get to feeling like I don't have enough, I always remember something my Young Women's leader told us many years ago.

She was complaining to her mom about how tired she was of being poor, and her mom told her "Honey, you're not poor. Poor people don't have microwaves." Of course, this was a really long time ago when microwaves were a lot more expensive, but the message has stuck with me all these years. Even if I don't have everything I want (and who does, really?) I still have more than most!

If I were really poor, I wouldn't:

• Have cable TV.
• Go out to eat.
• Have a cell phone, or at least not with a data plan!
• Have a car. I would ride the bus or walk or get a ride.
• Have a warm home in the Winter and a cool home in the Summer.
• Have the internet at home. I would use the library.

And if you really are feeling poor, but are still doing all the above, maybe it's time to stop doing those things and save your money!! 

If you still feel like you don't have enough, try this statistic on for size:

It only takes $34,000 a year, after taxes, to be among the richest 1% in the world.

Time Flies

Ok, seriously, is it already December?? How did this happen?? It's almost Christmas!

We got out our Christmas tree last weekend. It was a breeze to put up (I want to kiss whoever invented pre lit trees. On the lips. Possibly with tongue.) and might be the world's most perfect fake tree. It has LED lights (hello energy savings!) and it has both white AND colored lights. For someone with decorating commitment issues like mine, that is a huge plus! And all we had to do was take it out of the box, put the three sections together, and fluff!

We went to Hallmark on Monday to get our yearly ornament, and also snagged a "New House" ornament! I loved looking at the Baby's First Christmas ornaments. I can't wait to buy one for next year!

When we got home from Hallmark we started decorating the tree, but then we ran out of ornament hooks, and our new favorite show came on, and we were both tired, so we stopped decorating. And we haven't started it up again... So in addition to all of our unpacked regular boxes, we also have half unpacked Christmas boxes laying around. I've decided it's my new decorating style. I'm going to call it Just Moved In Chic. Luckily the boxes totally go with our wall color, so I think it's really working for us!

Baby (who is still without a name for now) is doing well. At my last appointment she weighed over two pounds! They were trying to check on a little spot they found on the heart, but she was all curled up and wouldn't move (she's stubborn. Of course she gets that from Steve, not me!!), so I get to have another one in a month or so. I'm fine with that, I love seeing her! I'm still feeling really good. My back hurts if I overdo it, so I wear grandma shoes every day and spend quality time with my back massager. I also developed pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome... It's annoying, but as long as I wear my wrist braces at night and drink enough water, it doesn't get too bad.

Our calendar is jam packed full until after Christmas. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with everything that still needs to be done! Luckily my sister Jalenna is coming to stay with us in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to having a full time slave for a while. She said she would work for food. Which is fine with me, my whole life is an all you can eat buffet!

You "Deserve" It

Lately I've been really hating the word deserve. As Christmas gets closer I am noticing it being used more and more:

• A commercial for a car dealership says they will take any old junker as a trade in, because "You deserve a nicer, newer car."
• A mail insert for a furniture store offers me low interest rates to help me get the furnishings I "deserve".
• A billboard for a bank offering holiday loans to "give your family the holiday they deserve."

All of these statements make me want to scream! Yes, it is really nice to have nice things, I get that. But to have the mentality that you deserve nice things, even if you can't afford them, means one of two things:

1. You are going to go into debt to get them.
2. You are expecting someone else to get them for you.

Going into debt for something as silly as a couch or a Christmas present is insane! And expecting someone else to get it for you is selfish! And at the end of the day a new couch isn't going to make you happier. You will be the same person with the same problems (maybe more problems, if you went into debt to get it!), just with a nicer place to sit. 

I'm going to step off my soapbox now and put Christmas music on Pandora and finish decorating the tree. After all this typing, I think I deserve it! ;)

Is it Fate?

A few days ago I noticed a pair of nail clippers on my work desk. How the heck did they get there? No idea. I chalked it up to my pregnancy brain and moved on with my life.

I didn't move the nail clippers though. That one isn't related to pregnancy. I'm just lazy.

Today I had a little break before I had to attend a meeting. A long enough break that I could get bored, but not so long that I could actually start doing something. That's when I noticed that my right big toenail was a little long and the left one was uneven.

Then I remembered that I have nail clippers at my desk! Maybe I knew that future me would need to clip her toenails but wouldn't have time to go get the clippers?

I think it was fate.

Beauty

I found these beauties growing behind the recycle bin on the side of the house. I had to cut a few and bring them inside the house!

Commitment Issues

I love having a fireplace. Not because I think it will be nice on cold winter days to curl up next to a fire. Let's face it. I live in South Texas. It's November and it was 82 degrees today. Maybe in a really cold year we would actually light a fire five times.

No, I love having a fireplace because it comes with a mantle! It's a built in shelf that can hold so many cute things! All of those candle holders I randomly picked up at Goodwill now have a home! I love rearranging the mantle, trying out new things, new colors, new height combinations.

Today I had the idea to start stacking pictures on the mantle. Hey, I'm not putting them on the walls, I might as well do something with them, right? And that's when it hit me. The clock would look so cool up there! So I put it up in the middle, and it looked great. Only... it was too low! So now I really want to try hanging the clock up there.

But... the mantle is brick. Hanging something in brick is a commitment! It involves special drill bits and stuff that I let Steve think about. Once it's up there, you can't just take it down or move it. And if I get tired of having the clock there, I will be forced to put something else there to cover up the hole.

I'm just not ready for that type of commitment...

Life's Great Mysteries

Why is it that I can't wake up on weekdays, but I can't sleep in on the weekends??

Resolutions - A Look Back

Ok, first of all, how in the world is today November first? Seriously? What happened to October? We are exactly three weeks away from Thanksgiving… What??

Since there are only two months until the end of the year I wanted to check in and see how I was doing with my New Year’s Resolutions. They were to:

1. Become an extreme couponer.
2. Get into a routine with my housework.

I did pretty well at becoming an extreme couponer. Except, I’m not that extreme. I would say I am a moderate couponer. There are so many regular products I don’t use because of the parabens (drugstore shampoo, makeup, body wash, etc) that even if they were free, it wouldn’t be worth it for me. But we are all stocked up on contact solution, deodorant, Steve’s body wash, laundry soap, razors, toilet paper, and paper towels for a while. I stopped going every week, and just go now when I see something that I really want/need. It works for me. I’m going to say this was a success!

The housework routine was not quite as successful. It started out pretty well, but then things got a little crazy. We started getting serious about buying a house, and packing disrupts everything. Then we moved, which is even more disruptive. Morning sickness/needing 12 naps a day kicked in a few days after the move, and poor Steve had to do everything for a while! But even if I was feeling fine, keeping a 2000 square foot house clean is MUCH more difficult that keeping a 900 square foot apartment clean. There are so many more surfaces, more floors to sweep or vacuum, more corners to dust, more space for junk to accumulate! But I’m getting there. I haven’t been behind in the laundry for over a month, and I’ve managed to get dinner on the table almost every night. So even though this didn’t go as well as I had hoped, I still say it was marginally successful.

The good news is, I still have two whole months before the year is over. 61 days to get better!

My Perfect Town

I was thinking the other day about all the cool stuff in the places I have lived. I really wish I could take little bits and pieces of every town I have ever lived in and made one big perfect town! My perfect town would include:

From Silver City:

• Vintage Fantasies. Seriously the best vintage store I’ve ever been in. Great scarves, jewelry, shoes, dresses, and the best collection of vintage hats I’ve ever seen!!
• The Antique Mall. Rooms and rooms of old stuff. Most of it is junk, some of it is treasure. I could stay there all day!
• The Grinder Mill. Chile cheese fries. What more is there to say??
• The Gila Cliff Dwellings. Native American ruins. A fantastic one mile hike!

From Las Cruces:

• COAS books. A huge used bookstore with floor to ceiling books for amazing prices. All of the paperback books are half off of whatever the cover price is. So that awesome book you found from the 70s that was $0.50? It’ll cost you a quarter! Another place I could stay all day!!
• Andale’s. The tacos. Oh, the tacos…
• The Organ Mountains. I really really miss living in a place with mountains. But I specifically miss these mountains! My last semester of school I made a point to notice the mountains every single day on my way to school. They change colors depending on the weather and time of day. I just love them!
• Keva Juice. Ya, they have them other places. It’s just not the same!

From Tempe/Phoenix:

• The Goodwills. Especially the one in Scottsdale. Half off everything in the store every other Saturday. Man, I got some great stuff!
• Tempe Town Lake. I love the water, and having a ‘lake’ just down the street was great! Lots of restaurants on one side, a walking path on the other side. Just don’t go there on Thursday nights. Unless you like drunk college kids!
• Ra. The best sushi. And if you go during happy hour you’ll feel like you’re stealing it!!
• Ikea. I seriously miss having an Ikea 10 minutes down the road. When I didn’t have anything to do on a Saturday I would go have breakfast there, shop for a while, have lunch, shop some more. I would have moved in, but apparently it’s frowned upon…
• The Mesa temple visitors center/grounds. I feel so blessed to have a temple just a few minutes away, but I really miss having the visitors center and the beautiful grounds to walk around. I miss the Christmas lights and the Easter pageant…
• Merchant Square. It's a mix of a flea market and a thrift store. Lots and lots of cool stuff to look at and buy. Also, they have the only hot dogs I will break my ‘One Hot Dog a Year’ rule for.

From San Antonio:

• The Riverwalk. I fell in love with San Antonio on the Riverwalk. It’s also where Steve proposed! I love the water, I love the atmosphere.
• Thrift Outlet. On Wednesdays, EVERYTHING in the store is a quarter. Everything. Does it get any better? I don’t think so!
• The Cove. A restaurant smashed between a car wash and a laundry mat. Serves locally sourced food, and soda with real sugar. They have live music most nights, and a playground for the kiddos. Get the burger with the goat cheese. It’s amazing.
• The Botanical Garden. Amazing plants as far as the eye can see. They also have really cool live music events. Love it!
• Lulu’s Cafe. A three pound cinnamon roll. Yep.
• The outlets. Just 30 minutes north! Has pretty much every store you can think of. The deals can be hit or miss, but having them so close makes it worth the drive!
• The Spurs. Gotta love some basketball! Go! Spurs! Go!
• The Alamo. Yes, most people are disappointed when they first see it. It’s small. It’s in the middle of town (I think people watch too many movies!). Once you get over that, you can be in awe of how very old the building is, and how many people walked through the very same place you are walking.
• The Hacienda. The first time we ate there all I said the whole time was Oh man, this is so good. I might have been close to tears. Get the fajitas. You won’t be sorry!
• The Missions. Once again, really old buildings with a ton of history. One of them is still a working monastery and church! It almost makes me want to be Catholic just so I could go to church in such an awesome place. 
• Blacks BBQ. An hour drive. Worth every single mile. Every. Single. Mile.
• The Majestic Theater. An old theater from back when people took time to focus on the details of buildings instead of just trying to get them built as quickly as possible. Everything about this building is ornate, gaudy and awesome. I usually miss the first part of the show I'm seeing there because I'm looking around at everything. They even have a stuffed peacock! 

In Case You Need a Good Uplifting Cry

I am Sore From the Hair Down

My back is sore. My arms are sore. My legs are sore. My hands are sore. My feet are sore.

Why, you ask? Did I run a marathon? Rearrange all my furniture? Lift a car off of a small child? No... I painted a room. Just one room. Luckily Tina came and saved me from the second room.

The good news is the nursery has been painted and most if the non nursery furniture had been moved out.

Now all I need to do is buy a crib. And make curtains. And paint the dresser and the changing table. And find bedding. And get baby clothes. And make the wall hangings.

Oh yeah, and give birth.

Well, now I feel overwhelmed. I'll leave you with a picture of the painted nursery. Just ignore all the unneeded furniture, ok?

Of Regrets and Resolutions

Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential. He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence.

Why, then, do we devote so much of our time and energy to things that are so fleeting, so inconsequential, and so superficial? Do we refuse to see the folly in the pursuit of the trivial and transient?

Would it not be wiser for us to “lay up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”?

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

2012 October General Conference

The Parable of the Bobby Pins

Last year, I discovered bobby pins from Sally's Beauty Supply. These are no ordinary bobby pins. They hold your hair like no other. I now refuse to use any other bobby pins.

If I were awesome, and organized, I would have thrown out all my other substandard bobby pins when I discovered the awesome ones. But I am neither awesome, nor organized.

I keep all of my bobby pins, awesome and non-awesome, in a little makeup bag on my bathroom counter. It was such a pain to dig through and find awesome bobby pins in between all of the non-awesome bobby pins, But who wants to take the time to sort through bobby pins? Boring.

Then one day it hit me. I don't have to sort through all of the bobby pins at one time. When I pull out a substandard bobby pin, I could throw it away right then and there. Putting substandard bobby pins back into my bag was ridiculous and a waste of time.

It only took a couple of weeks for all of my substandard bobby pins to finally be thrown away. How easy was that? Why didn't I think of it before?

Then I thought, this can be a bigger life lesson. If there things that are bothering us, we don't have to fix it all at once. We can slowly take out the 'substandard bobby pins' in our lives one at a time and with very little trouble. Before we know it will be substandard bobby pin free. We don't need to keep putting metaphorical substandard bobby pins back into our metaphorical makeup bag.

And that is my deep thought for the day.

Luck?

Steve always gets the best parking spots. I thought maybe he was just lucky, but then it hit me. He expects to always get a good spot, so he always drives up right to the front of the parking lot. I just take the first spot I see (I'm impatient like that).

I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere.

The Silver Lining

I really wish Baby had a name. I just keep calling her Baby.

But it's ok. It opens the door to a lot of 'nobody puts Baby in the corner' jokes.

Pinteresting

It's funny how when you are used to doing nothing, it's hard to get back into doing anything. But I am happy to report that I am on a seven day streak of going to bed with all the dishes done. I'm sad to report that that's such a big deal. But whatever. We lived through the first trimester, it's time to move on!

And what better way to move on than by doing a project I saw on Pinterest!!

This project promised to make my too small sweaters into cute cardigans with no sewing! And since pretty much everything I own is too small these days, it sounded perfect!

I started with a top that was too short and hadn't been worn in forever, but was too pretty to give away! I cut it down the middle, then used fusible interfacing and the iron to 'hem' the edges.

It really was very easy. I think the hardest part was getting the ironing board to open!!

Here's the finished product:

I Blame Steve

In the last two years (how have I already been married two years?? Whoever has the time accelerator needs to cool it...) I have...

I don't know if I can admit this to the public.

Here we go...

In the past two years, I have started to like Sci Fi movies and shows.

(Are there support groups for people like me???)

It all started with Battlestar Galactica. (I can't believe I'm even typing these words) The story was so engaging. I liked all of the characters from the very first episode. It went from being ok to have it one while I was in the room, to Steve not being able to watch it without me, to counting down the minutes until Steve got home so we could put it back on. It's a slippery slope... 

One thing led to another, and all of the sudden I get jokes about Star Trek, and I'm watching the extended edition of Lord of the Rings. 

I was ok with all these changes. Marriage is about compromise, right? Steve eats salad now. We have both changed. But then, the strangest thing happened.

I had added Sleepless in Seattle to the instant queue on Netflix, and was planning on watching it when I had a Steve free few hours. Its one of my favorite movies, and I couldn't wait! Last week sometime, I couldn't sleep, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity. But the strangest thing happened. Instead of enjoying the charming Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, I found myself picking holes in the plot, and rolling my eyes at all the cheesy-ness. I still enjoyed parts of the movie (best part ever, where the men are talking about how an action movie makes them cry like An Affair to Remember. Priceless!!), but overall, I found it shallow, implausible, and annoying.

It's like I don't even know myself anymore... 

I blame Steve. 

Inflation

I hate the thought of inflation. I hate thinking that the raise I got this year was basically nothing, because everything is going to cost more anyway. But I have been noticing the effects of inflation on Craigslist.

A side note about Craigslist: My sister and brother in law recently bought a hot tub off of Craigslist. My 5 year old niece told my mom that they got the hot tub from her dad's friend named Craig. Isn't that cute??

Anyway. We have a very empty house to furnish, and what better way to fill it up than by buying people's old used stuff?? It's better for the environment, better for my bank account, and I feel like I'm helping someone out. Or giving them beer money. Whatever. I remember getting a ton of great deals there when I lived in Phoenix. The stuff may not have been the best quality (I write as I stare at the $10 coffee table with one leg falling off... Hey, it lasted 5 years and 6 moves!) but it was CHEAP!

But I've been on Craigslist pretty much every day for the last month, and I've started to notice - people want a lot of money for their old used junk!! A broken down couch for $700. A particle board desk for $200. And seriously people - it's DINING room table, not DINNING!!! Oh, and while we're on the subject. Having something in your house since 1982 does not make it an antique!! Sometimes its just an old piece of junk. Make your peace with that.

I have a few theories about why this is happening:

1. People are more informed than they used to be. They search the internets to see how much everyone else is charging, and price accordingly. They can figure out that the DINING room table they got from their great aunt is actually worth something.
2. People is San Antonio are all dirty rotten Craigslist thieves who can't spell, and want to take all my money and leave nothing for my unborn child's college fund.
3. People barter so much that everyone sets the prices at triple of what they actually hope to get for an item.

Maybe I just need to shell out the cash at a furniture store. I'm starting to lose my faith in mankind... and spell check...

A Day in the Life

In case you're wondering what my and Steve's life has been like recently:

Me:
6:20 AM- groggily kiss Steve goodbye. Go back to sleep.
7:15ish- decide it might be time to go to work. Roll out of bed, go across the hall, turn on computer.
7:30- Make breakfast.
7:35- Start a load of laundry.
8:00- Try not to throw up breakfast.
8:15- Throw up breakfast.
8:20- Stare at computer. Decide it's time to start working.
9:30- Snack time!
11:00- Nap time.
11:30 or 12:00, or whenever- Wake up. Try to motivate self to go back to work. In the next room.
12:00- Lunch!
12:15- Actually get some work done.
2:00- Snack!
3:30- Work day finally over. Consider taking a shower, but take a nap instead!
6:00- Get woken up by Steve, and dinner.
6:30- Sit on couch and complain about not feeling good.
7:00- Whine that I haven't left the house all day.
7:30- Decide I don't want to leave the house, because I would have to put pants on.
8:00- Snack time!
9:00- Get ready for bed. After all, it's been a long day.

Steve:
5:45- Wake up, get ready for work.
6:20- Kiss blob in bed goodbye.
6:30- Head off to work.
7:30- Start work, work really hard.
11:30- Break for lunch!
12:00- Continue to work hard.
4:30- Head home.
5:25- Deal with the moldy laundry in the washer that your wife forgot about.
5:35- Start making dinner.
6:00- Wake up blob in bed, tell her dinner is ready.
6:30- Do the dishes.
6:45- Fix broken stuff in the house.
7:15- Do some yard work.
8:00- Sit down, fold no longer moldy laundry.
8:15- Look at greasy blob on other side of the couch (formerly known as wife) and reconsider life choices.
8:30- Remind blob that life isn't that bad.
9:00- Finally get a moment of quiet. Watch a TV show where people die, or something (I'm asleep at this point, ok? I'm just not sure).
10:00- Go to bed. Hope tomorrow is better.

So really, I wrote this long post to say three things:

1. Growing a person is hard work.
2. You should be glad that you aren't Steve.
3. I seriously have the best husband EVER.

A Baby Story

So, I know this is old news, but I didn't want to post anything on the interwebz until I told my manager. And I didn't want to tell my manager until I made it through the first trimester, so I had to wait. Besides, writing things hasn't been at the top of my to do list. Sleeping, puking and thinking about unpacking boxes - those are at the top these days!

So anyway, yes, I got knocked up. Don't worry, it was by my husband. For anyone who was not aware, we had been doing fertility treatments since November of last year. But I was on Steve's insurance, and said insurance did not pay for these treatments. So after several really hard months (seriously, fertility treatments have to be one of the most difficult things in the world, both on your body AND your emotions), we decided to take some time off to go on vacation and focus on buying a house.

After we went on vacation, closed on our house and moved in, I went back to the doctor to get another prescription for another round of treatments and take a blood test to see if I had ovulated that month (another thing about fertility treatments - they make you REALLY comfortable talking about your reproductive system). I got a call when I was out of town that I hadn't ovulated, so I waited for my next cycle to start to the next round of meds.

I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. Finally, on a Monday morning, I decided to take a pregnancy test. It was negative. Not a big deal, I take lots of pregnancy tests, and they have always been negative. So I threw it away and went to work.

All day at work, I felt SO sick. I went to Subway for lunch, and the meat in my sandwich tasted SO gross, I couldn't even finish it! I thought about how glad I was that I had taken the test that morning, or I would be thinking I was pregnant. I was so sick by the end of the day that I couldn't even think about making dinner. Even thinking about taking meat out of the freezer made me want to yammy.

All through the week I was so sick, and so tired, but I figured I had the stomach flu, or was stressed from the new house buying activities. But I kept thinking about that test in the garbage in the back of my mind. On Thursday, I was telling my mom about how sick I was and she told me it sounded like I was pregnant. I told her about the negative test, and we moved on. But when he hung up, I had the strongest feeling that I should go dig the test out of the trash. So I did it (is there anything grosser than bathroom trash??).

And the test was positive.

What????

What??

What?

I had no idea what to do. Could it just be positive because it was old? It had been sitting in my trash for four days. So I took another one.

And it was positive too.

What???

So yeah, I got knocked up. Without any meds, and apparently without ovulating that month (turns out, I ovulated two weeks late).

And that is my baby story.

PBS- supported by viewers like you!

I read an article yesterday (and for the life of me, I can’t remember where!) that encouraged the readers to PBS throughout the day

Pause
Breathe
Smile

I have been trying it, and it’s pretty impactful! It’s amazing how a little thing like that can make such a big difference! It’s also amazing how many times throughout the day I find myself holding my breath. Taking that second to breathe and smile really keeps me in tune with how I am feeling, and not so focused on all my ‘to dos’. Also, a lot of people ask why you are smiling, which is a great way to start a conversation, I think!

All of my Wildest Dreams Came True

It finally happened. The thing that I had been waiting for all my life.

I got a wheat grinder! It was the best day ever! When I first set it up, I didn't seal it correctly and flour went EVERYWHERE. I'm going to be finding flour in places where flour should never be... well, until we move...

But I figured out how to put it together correctly, and was able to grind cups and cups of delicious, fresh flour!! I decided to write a song for my wheat grinder.

(To the tune of O Christmas Tree, or O Tannenbaum, if that's how you roll)

Oh wheat grinder, Oh wheat grinder
Your flours are so lovely

Oh wheat grinder, Oh wheat grinder
Your flours are so lovely

You grind it up, so fresh and nice
It's full of nutrients, and not of lice

Oh wheat grinder, Oh wheat grinder
Your flours are so lovely!

Community Gardening

In my dream life, I am an expert gardener, and I grow tons of delicious veggies and then can them, so we can enjoy them year round.

Well, actually, in my dream life I have millions of dollars and pay people to do stuff like that for me, but that's never going to happen.

So in my realistic, possibly could happen dream life, I am an expert gardener, and I grow tons of delicious veggies and then can them, so we can enjoy them year round.

In reality, I kill plants. A lot of them. All the time. But I still really want to be a gardener! Lucky for me, our apartment has a community garden, and the person who runs it is a Master Gardener! So while I might end up killing all the plants, I still get to learn from someone who actually knows what they are doing!

Two weeks ago, I planted tomatoes (both cherry and regular), jalepenos, swiss chard, onions, and I left a spot for squash that will be planted in another month or so!

What does my new garden look like, you ask? Click here! My bed is the first one on the right. But don't worry, it has more plants in it now!

My husband is a genius

And not just because he married me! Actually, I have to say he is a genius in spite of marrying me. The fact that he hasn't tried to kill or divorce me kind of makes me worry about his mental health.

But I digress...

A few months ago I made a deal with my husband. I said if he would take over doing the laundry, I would do ALL the dishes. He hates dishes with a fiery passion, and I was hating laundry more and more everyday. This deal was what you call a Win-Win!

After a few weeks of laundry doing, it became clear that my method of folding (or stuffing them in the drawer) my shirts wasn't working for him. I explained that they got messed up anyway because when I was looking for a shirt, I had to dig to find the one I wanted.

So Steve, with his higher than average intelligence and spacial reasoning, implemented the filing method for my shirts. The picture might not look that impressive to you, but it is nothing short of a miracle that my shirts have been nearly folded for over two months!

So my marriage tip for the day is: play up your strengths! And also, try to marry someone much smarter than you!

Not So Extreme Couponing

One of my New Years Resolutions was to try extreme couponing. It seemed easy enough, you get the coupons, you buy stuff, it's cheaper. Simple, right?

Not so much.

There are about a million websites out there dedicated to coupons for a reason. It's complex! And time consuming. So while I'm not too extreme yet, I have seen some results.

First off, I get the Sunday paper for $1 a week, so if I save a dollar that week, I count it as good. So far I have saved more than that every week I have gone, so at least I am getting a return on investment. Some of my best deals so far:

• Free bottle of salad dressing. And it was the good stuff too!
• Box of whole wheat pasta for $.37.
• Two bags of peanut M&Ms for $.50 (we're talking full size bags here, not the single serving ones).
• Two boxes of baking soda for $.47.
• A dozen eggs for $.99 (ok this wasn't couponing, they are just on sale at Walgreens this week, but I never would have known that if I didn't coupon!).

I can see how people get addicted to it. It is super fun! And getting the best deals give you such a rush! I have already learned a lot, and I look forward to being much more 'extreme' in the future. So if you get a basket of toilet paper and toothpaste from me on your next birthday, don't be too surprised!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes I feel like I am too blessed, like I should give away some of my happiness because I have too much. Thinking about all the suffering in the world, all the people hurting, and all the people who want just what I have, makes me grateful. Sometimes I am awed at how kind the Lord is to me.

Sometimes, I wonder why life can't go my way. I want to control everything. I want to be able to define things, to put a nice neat label on them so I can understand them. Sometimes I yearn for the things I don't have.

Sometimes, I am awesome. I am on top of things. I get to work on time, and my hair looks good, and I have a healthy lunch packed. I am kind to others, I keep my house clean. All my bills are paid on time.

Sometimes, I suck at life. I struggle just to get out of bed. I only think about myself. I speak unkindly to people that I love the most. Things that should be easy, I make hard.

Sometimes I forget that life has it's highs and lows. I want every day to be sunny, but I forget that without the rainy days, nothing would grow. Sometimes I remember that the low points only make me appreciate the highs that much more.

Aw Man...

My resolutions are lame compared to this guy's.

I Need Patience. NOW

I'm not the most patient person. When I want something, I want it now. That's what caused all my credit card debt in my early 20s... (Man, I feel old, I can actually talk about my EARLY 20s!) Since my life consists mostly of waiting right now, I have come up with a few things to do when you Just. Can't. Wait. Anymore!!

1. Play the piano
2. Call someone
3. Write rambling blog posts
4. Clean something
5. Watch TV
6. Read a book
7. Scrub something with an old toothbrush
8. Clean out your closet
9. Get on Pintrest
10. Go for a run
11. Bake something
12. Add things to your Amazon wish list
13. Balance your checkbook
14. Take a nap
15. Do some yoga
16. Floss
17. Reorganize your kitchen cupboards
18. Try to do long devision in your head
19. Try a new makeup look
20. Write angry letters to businesses 
21. Drink some water
22. Edit Wikipedia articles
23. Change your voicemail message
24. Paint your nails
25. Play Just Dance on the Wii
26. Start a new sewing project
27. Become a Dr Pepper expert
28. Rearrange the furniture
29. Take a walk in a park
30. Vacuum the couch

 

New Years Resolutions

I finally narrowed down my huge list of things I wanted to accomplish this year to two actual New Years Resolutions.

1. Establish routines for cleaning the house. Our house never really gets that dirty, there are only two people living here, but I never feel like I am really on top of things. I am going to start with small morning and night routines, and add one thing every few weeks until I get where I want to be.
2. Become and extreme couponer. I'm already starting to get frustrated with this. I ordered the Sunday paper a few weeks ago, but it STILL hasn't come. I'm tired of calling the newspaper company every Monday to complain... If it doesn't come in the next two weeks, I am going to take it as a sign that it isn't meant to be and forget it!! I know there are other ways to get the Sunday coupons than by getting the paper delivered to my house, but I am lazy, and I don't have time to go searching for them...

I was really leaning toward running 520 miles, but I decided that I am just hitting my stride (pun totally intended) with running, and I don't want to put a lot of pressure on myself to run a set amount and not make it fun anymore. If couponing doesn't work out, I'm going to go with trying one new things from Pintrest every month!