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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Work and knives

This week is going to suck.

I work 52 hours in 5 days. Two 8-hour shifts and three 12-hour shifts. This is a lot for me in a row. I know many other people who do it on a regular basis, but I am not that type of person. I just hope that I have good days, where I'm not too busy. I also hope it doesn't snow which would make my commute stressful.

I finally bought a good knife block/set. I called Jamaal last night when I bought them:

Me: Knives are expensive.
J: Yeah, the knives you picked out [for our registry] were expensive.
Me: Do you mind if we have Martha Stewart knives?
J: I don't care what kind of knives we have.

For some reason I was very concerned about buying a knife set that had "Martha Stewart" stamped all over it. You can see it here. I used them today and they are awesome, especially compared to what we had before.

I bought knives from this blue light special at Sears. A guy was showing them off last Christmas (or the one before...?) and they worked really great when he showed them. I have never really liked them. The reason I dislike them is that they are serrated. Every single one of them. I like serrated knives for some things, but it is difficult to finely chop pecans with a serrated knife. Ultimately, I chopped an onion today and nearly my thumb, and I've never been more satisfied. I'll keep the old knives for cutting tomatoes and bread...but my MS knives are way way better! :D

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A one dog family

Is what we almost became.

At 0330 I heard the heaves I've dreaded for so long. Followed by purging.

Not once, but twice onto the beautiful new carpet.

I knew it would happen eventually. My girls empty the contents of their stomachs way more than they probably should. They also eat things they probably shouldn't.

Thus far Jamaal or I have caught them and shoved them outside before they've been able to dirty my pretty carpet.

I was up and trying to get Bacardi outside when she threw up the second time. Which made it even more disappointing.

Shag carpet...while it hides things well, is very very difficult to clean.

Fortunately for her, the carpet cleaner worked and, besides the wet spots on the carpet, you can't tell she puked. The worst part is you can't see the wet spots, so you find them by feel.

Had the carpet cleaner not worked, we might have become a one dog family. ;)

If you read this blog at all, you know that I would never get rid of one of my babies. But I would have been less inclined to give her a treat. :D

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

If my girls could talk...

I'm sure they would have some pretty funny things to say.

I honestly believe they would have some pretty vulgar vocabulary. Because sometimes they do things that really must have some sort of cuss word in front of it.

Example Number 1:

Bacardi must have fresh water at all times. They have a plastic double dish that we keep filled with water, and they go through it pretty quick. It has metal insets for the water to go in. If Bacardi finds it empty she will flick the metal dishes out of the base in protest.

Other times she will simply go into the main bathroom, find the toilet cover up, and drink from the toilet. When I see her go into that bathroom, I know why, and I'll call her out.

Her speech bubble reads: "B*&#$ I told you to keep fresh water in that bowl!"

Example Number 2:

Some times Jamaal or I will wake up the girls in the middle of the night by turning on the lights. Their eyes open, and Bella won't even lift up her head. Her eyes glare at us as if to say "WTF man, I'm sleeping here!"

Other times they might not have such vulgar speech, like the times when Bella runs into a wall and looks around to see if anyone saw. (Or she's looking around to see what hit her...) Either way I imagine her thoughts would be hilarious to hear.

Jamaal and I watched Up! the other day, and in that movie the dogs talk. In other words you hear their thoughts. It is hilarious, because sometimes they will randomly shout out "Squirrel!" which is exactly something Bacardi would do. I loved the dogs in that movie, because so much of what they said is what I imagine my girls saying. I kept looking to see if Jamaal agreed with me, and for the most part he did.

By the way, if you haven't seen Up! you should, but just make sure to wash your face first, and have cucumbers ready for after...I bawled. But I cry at commercials...

Monday, November 16, 2009

Home sweet home

Moving to Auburn has proven to be a huge change. Of course, I was expecting that.

When I find myself in Federal Way, I feel terribly far from home. (When really home is only a few minutes away.) I guess I still feel like I'm living in Tukwila.

One plus of living in federal way is we are now close by a Trader Joes. I decided to check it out the other day, and fell in love with their produce section. They have decently priced food (it's not expensive compared even to Safeway) and some of rare items you don't normally see.

Like brussel sprouts still on the stalk.

;) I'm not that adventurous yet.

I've also discovered the wonders of Fred Meyer. I love that I can shop for groceries and anything else all at the same time!! They carry a lot of organic and health food. Something that I'm trying to include more in our diet.

On the home front, we are still fridge-less. So that means that we have no freezer, and where I used to buy in bulk, I now have to buy as little as possible at a time. That means going to the grocery store every other day, instead of once a week.

It's annoying. And difficult. And I cannot wait to have a fridge and a washer and dryer....

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Update

Just a quick update.

We're in our house. We have been sleeping here since October 27th (we've had keys since the 20th). We took a while to move because we wanted to get painting done before we slept in he house. Unfortunately there is still a little bit of painting that I need to do. I should do it tomorrow.

Carpet is in. It is wonderful. However, now we can't easily shut the doors on the carpet. (Because it is quite a bit thicker than the stuff that was in here previously.) We'll have to trim every door to the bed rooms, and all the closet doors.

I'm currently working on contact-papering all of the cupboards in the kitchen (and probably the bathroom drawers too). I'm almost there. I have only the upper cupboards to do yet. It really is a lot of work: first, I vacuum the drawers/shelves; then I scrub the surface with soap and water; then, I might use wood polish, if I feel it is necessary; then I measure the surface to cut contact paper; then I patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) adhere the contact paper. I usually hate the stuff. But I'm particularly grossed out by using these cupboards. They are beautiful on the outside, in great condition, and by no means need to be replaced. However, the surfaces are stained and gross looking. I should have taken a picture of once cupboard before I scrubbed the heck out of it. There was a disgusting black crusty substance in the back corner of one of the cupboards. Jamaal thinks it was a sealant that leaked. I'm not sure what it was, but it stained the cupboard walls. The contact paper makes the shelves and drawers look so much better though. I'm happy with the result. I bought a wood grain print, so it looks like wood inside the drawers. It's not as tacky as it sounds.

We unfortunately do not have a fridge at this time. (well, we do have my mini fridge from college) because the one that was in here smells ridiculous inside. I do not have the stomach to clean it. (There isn't anything in it, just stank.) My father-in-law thinks we could take it outside and hose it down and use it either in the garage or on the back porch. I don't think there is room for it, so I think we'll probably let Home Depot dispose of it, when they install the new one. We have a bit of a predicament. The fridge we picked out is way too tall (by 4 inches) to fit in the current slot for the fridge. The fridge here now is ancient and is the old standard. Now, fridges are made much bigger. It was difficult to find one that was small enough width wise to fit in the hole, let alone one short enough. I must admit that I want a water and ice machine, and that is one reason it is difficult to find a fridge that meets the size requirements. Fortunately, the cupboards are not at the ceiling. So we can raise them to allow the fridge to fit. (Or, we might be cutting off the cupboards above the fridge to make the fridge fit.) Not sure, at this point, what we will do.

Hopefully the fridge will come tomorrow or Tuesday, while I have the day off.

Off to bed!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Tomorrow is the day

We get keys tomorrow...the next two weeks are going to be crazy!! Stay tuned for pictures. Unfortunately I have to start work again on Wednesday, so I won't be able to get a lot done. But I intend on coming home painting and sleeping when I can!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Economics by Aubri

I want to talk about floss for a bit.

Jamaal and I ran out of floss. And I've been getting by without it. (I mostly forget to floss so I didn't miss the missing floss all that much)

I have decided that it's important for me to floss, and want to do so nightly. But, like previously mentioned. I had no floss.

I went to Costco earlier in the week, and thought "Maybe they have floss here." Thinking it would be strange to buy bulk floss; especially when we are both due sometime before the end of the year for a dentist visit (and with that comes free floss.) I also thought that it would be weird for Costco to even carry it. But as I was making my way to the cashier I saw it. A six pack of floss for....$12.99!

A little over $2 for a thing of floss?? I could not bring myself to spending that much money on floss. I can make floss with my hair or thread for that price!

So, after getting slightly depressed on Thursday night, (we did not sign the papers on Thursday, and therefore had to sign them on Friday which means we won't get keys until Monday or quite possibly Tuesday) I wanted to get out of the house and shop. When I'm depressed I like to buy things. It was stupid to go out, but, I did. I ended up buying a bag of Halloween candy (for us, though not for trick or treaters) and a couple movies and a small bag of popcorn for me to snack on while shopping. Which, I must say, stopped me from buying lip gloss that I was craving to buy. (and the popcorn came with a diet pop to sip on for only $1.75!)

Since I was in Target, I decided to buy some floss. I could not believe the horror that I found there. One roll of floss (that must be made of gold) was $3.49!! I didn't examine it very thoroughly, since I was appalled, but it must floss your teeth for you. "Just tear off a piece, place in your mouth, and in 60 seconds, your teeth will be flossed perfectly! " I could be a millionaire.

Thankfully there was a roll of floss going for $0.99...and I checked, it was the same yardage as the $3.49 roll. I just have to do the flossing myself.

Is anyone else as freaked out by this as I am?? Have you, like me, relied on free floss your whole life, and have never looked at the price of floss?

I imagine that has something to do with the price. It probably doesn't sell very well. So when they do sell one roll, they make a 600% profit (assuming it costs $0.50 to make the roll of floss) on that roll. The profit accounts for the loss they take when they don't sell 6 other rolls, in other words they come up even. (They still make a profit, if they don't sell 5 or less rolls of floss). I'm sure the floss from the dentist office is the cheaply made kind that I know and love, so it probably costs less to make. And so the floss companies can donate more floss to dentist offices with hopes that people like me will run out and have to buy floss at an inflated price.

My theories are probably wrong...I'm a nurse not an economist! But part of me believes I'm partly right.

If you lasted through this post this long I commend you.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Soon!

We should be closing sometime this week. Keep your fingers crossed!! :D

Monday, October 12, 2009

Dreams and baby plans

I had a crazy dream last night/this morning. And of course I'm going to attempt to share it with you.

At the start, I was pregnant. Jamaal was basically never in my dream, but I knew that he wasn't out of the picture, he was just busy. Instead, my mom was supporting me. She was the one that took me to the hospital when I went into labor. Which, by the way, was so simple! After laying in the hospital bed for a couple minutes, my baby girl was born. Makes me ready to have a baby. No pain, no goop, only a period afterwards, and not even that heavy of a period!! (Side note: I said to my mom when I started having a period: why can't the uterus just be perfectly smooth and clean after having a baby. And being the nurse I am, I imagined a sparkling clean uterus....) So my baby girl was born complete with blond highlights and chin length hair. When wet, the hair would crimp, but it was easily brushed straight. Ha! No chance....now I was born with a lot of hair, and I believe Jamaal was too, but chin length hair?? If it weren't a dream she would have looked ridiculous, but instead she just was so perfectly cute. And even though Jamaal never saw her, I'm sure he would have questioned if I'd been faithful or not...so right after having the baby, I left her with my mom because I had other things to do.

The drill team coach asked me to participate in a dance reunion. And, just having had a baby, of course I said I'd be there. I hadn't shaved my legs in forever, since I'd been pregnant and couldn't reach, so I realized a little later than I should, that I desperately needed to shave. So I went to my dorm room, that was completely outside, and I shared it with Kayleen and Sarah. Sarah being taller, was so kind to reach for my electric razor that was on top of this ridiculously tall set of cupboards/closets. Kayleen had spilt her earrings all over the place on top of the cupboards, and we were very frustrated with that fact. I apparently had really swollen ankles during my pregnancy to the point where I had some very large blisters. So while I was shaving my legs I was also peeling skin (that looked more like hardened candle wax that had been dripped on my ankles. It was really quite gross, but made worse by the fact that I left the "skin" all over our outside dorm room. Sarah and Kayleen had left already though so they didn't know.

I finally leave the dorm, but I'm soo very late. The performance started at 1030 and there was a run through before that...I left my dorm at 1030. I didn't even know what I was supposed to perform, since I wasn't on the drill team...

Right before my performance, the coach (was her name Hunter??) says over the mike, "Aubri, do you know what you're going to perform?" I shook my head. Completely embarrassed. She then said I was to be singing along with the dancers in the next number, and I needed to run out of the bleachers area and go down to the floor to sing. Fortunately for me, the area I went to was not somewhere the audience could see me. Because I still didn't know what I was supposed to sing.

We (some people joined me for support, and to be my background singers) arrived just after the music had started. It was "My favorite things" from the Sound of Music. Which, I did not know the words to completely. And they didn't print me off a copy of the music so that I could follow where we were. So I basically messed up completely the first time, making the dancers start all over. And then made it as far as the first line.

I must have been very upset, but I was just ready to see my baby girl again. I missed her big time. I really desperately wanted to breast feed, but since there had been so many interruptions, she was being bottle fed by my mom. I tried, but she didn't really understand what to do, and neither did I. And I've been playing the Sims 3 too much because I would look to see how hungry she was on a meter...it was awful.

_________________________

I've been thinking about how to continue to support my family as well as be a mom and how I will make it work. And once conclusion I have found is: when on day shift, I could work Tuesdays and Thursdays and Sundays. And my mom could watch the baby on Tuesday and Thursday, and Jamaal could watch the baby on Sundays.  When on night shift, I would work Monday, wednesday and Saturday nights, for 8 hours. Jamaal is worried that he'd get no sleep, because he'd be alone with the baby overnight, but hopefully the baby would sleep through the night, or only wake one time through the night. Then my mom could either come over to my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or take the baby to her house. If she stayed at my house, she'd be able to bring the baby in to me when it was hungry and I could feed it. That is if I'm able to breastfeed. I would only work for 8 hours.Which would be a pay cut, of about 25%. And while that might make things a little bit tight, I could always pick up some shifts here and there as long as I can find a sitter. Preferably Jamaal, or our moms. We are allowed 4 months off total for a pregnancy, so, hoping I can work up until a week or less before I deliver, the baby would be nearly 4 months old. (This of course, is the best possible situation.) There are always what-if situations, where I could possibly end up with bed rest, or a baby with some sort of health problem, or twins etc.

Now I have to find enough leave time to cover 4 months of time off! (that is 512hrs at 80% and 384hrs at 60%) I would prefer the first option, but I don't think I can save that much time up.

We need to start saving now....

When I was looking up "My favorite things" to make sure that was the name of it, I found this music video...it's strange, but I really like it. Check it out:


Tuesday, October 6, 2009

My 100th Post.

I've been hesitant to post because this is my 100th post with this blog...I wanted it to be significant. The only events lately around here, I don't really want to talk about....it's depressing. We were supposed to close last wednesday on our house....and we still don't know when exactly we will close.

But like I said before, I don't want to talk about it.

I'm finding that I get excited when my period doesn't start when it should. I'm on the pill, so I'm very regular. Every 4 weeks by 10am, I begin to spot. Sometimes earlier if I've been up for a while. But this last week I didn't really start until Tuesday. All of monday I thought, "what if I'm pregnant?"

Then all of tuesday I was disappointed. Then yesterday I was watching "I didn't know I was Pregnant." A tv show about women who have babies and for the majority (sometimes all) of the pregnancy they don't know they're pregnant. The girl on there this particular episode got pregnant twice and didn't know it! She was 34 weeks with the second child and didn't know she was preggo...

So then I begin believing that it's possible with me. Wishful thinking I guess...

I want a baby, but I know that we are not ready. We will have a mortgage to pay, and without my income, we won't be able to pay our mortgage. So we need to figure a few things out before we have a baby. I want to figure it out soon...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sad day

Well as you all are probably aware, J and I are in the process of buying our first house. We are super excited/anxious/ready to move out of our rental. I've been pressuring the bank to see if we could close early on Sept. 25th instead of the 30th, to give us extra time to paint and get the carpet installed before moving into the new place. Well yesterday I found out that an early close would not be possible. Which was fine, obviously not ideal, but I got over it.

Today I find out that we actually can't close on the 30th either. My loan lady says they are behind by "a couple weeks."

Fortunately, our landlords have not found anyone to replace us yet, so we aren't homeless. We had planned on staying only until Oct. 4th, with prorated rent, but it looks like we'll have to pay all of October's rent at this time.

It is soooo frustrating.

What makes this worse is there is a stipulation in our contract with GMAC (the bank that owns our house), that says if we need an extension, it will cost $100/day. Now J and I think that we should not have to pay since it isn't our fault, but I don't know that the bank we are getting our loan through can help us very much. My loan lady said she would do everything she could to help if GMAC won't waive the fee. (That of course is our first hope.) My realtor contacted GMAC's realtor and asked what we could do to get the fee waived, and they stated a letter saying why there is a delay would do it. So we hope that that is the case.

This $8000 tax credit thing is the reason we are delayed. The bank had a 1000% increase in the amount of loans processing at once. People are rushing to get in a house before November 30th.

J and I wanted to have a Halloween (costumes required) Housewarming party. I hope we can still have that!

Friday, September 18, 2009

My little Bells

Just a video of my Bella girl, playing with her food. Unless she is really hungry, she will do this every meal time...Sometimes she does the "nosing" part of it for much longer. She used to have a bowl that would tip over, and so she would nose it enough that it would tip. We got tired of stepping on bits of food. We still step on random pieces that she spits out...wish I could get into that head of hers and find out what the heck she's doing!!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Lemon-Blueberry scones with a Lemon-White Chocolate Drizzle

Today at my local grocery store, I noticed that the big pack of blueberries were on sale for like $4.50 or close to $5 I forget. But it was a screamin' deal. It's like a pound of blueberries, or something. I decided I really wanted blueberry pancakes later this week. But also wanted to make some sort of dessert with them. I consulted the Spousal unit..."what would you prefer, cake or scones?" he didn't care. "But which would you most likely eat the most of?" probably the scones, he replied. Scones it is then! I wanted to make something that he would eat, otherwise I would eat them all myself! ;) I thought the packaging of the berries was quite funny:

First it claims that these blueberries are "sweeter than love." Which, while they are pretty sweet berries, I'd argue that my love is sweeter. ;) Also, they claim that Canada is "No. 1." And, I'm sorry if you're Canadian, but that is just plain wrong! ;) haha. I, at least, think it's funny. I asked Jamaal to put away the blueberries for me, and the first thing he said was "They're from Canada??!!" Like that was a huge issue....


So as I was saying, I (we) decided to make scones, Lemon Blueberry Scones with Lemon-White Chocolate Drizzle, to be precise...and they are quite good. :D I used the recipe found here. But I altered it slightly. My drizzle is different, and, I was a little more patient than she was, and forced the dough to become soft enough to form it into a rectangle. (I also added way more blueberries...:D)Enjoy!


Lemon Blueberry Scones with Lemon-White Chocolate Drizzle
Scones
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-2 heaping tablespoons sugar
-5 tablespoons butter, cold, cut in chunks
-1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
-Just shy of 2 cups of fresh blueberries, rinsed
-1 to 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon
-Lemon zest from an entire lemon


Lemon-White Chocolate Drizzle
-2-4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon
-1-2 squares of Baker's white chocolate
1. Preheat the oven to 350*.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. If you are anal, which I am not, you can sift these ingredients together. I don't own a sifter, and I hope I never do. It just seems silly to me. (I accidentally put 2 tablespoons of baking powder in, and ended up scooping what I thought was 1 tablespoon of powder...and all turned out just fine. I need to pay attention to what I'm doing I guess!! :D )
3. Using 2 forks, a pastry blender, or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. (I used my hands, because I have yet to find a pastry blender that I approve of. ;) When Jamaal and I registered I looked for one, but it was not to my liking...I have yet to look again.)
4. Make a well in the center, and pour in the heavy cream. (I happened to have heaving whipping cream because I was planning on making ice cream, and used it instead, they turned out fine, I don't know the difference though. Probably way more fattening...ha!)
5. Mix together gently just until moistened. Do not overwork the dough.
6. Fold in the blueberries, 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, and lemon zest. You have to be careful to not bruise or smoosh the blueberries. But there will be a few casualties. At this point, if the dough looks too dry, add 1 tablespoon of cream or water until it is moist enough to press into a rectangle, or square, or shape of your choice! I had to add 2 tablespoons of cream to reach the right consistency.
7. On a lightly floured surface (I used waxed paper, but a pastry mat will do) dump the dough out and press lightly into your desired shape. I used a rectangle.
8. Cut squares out of the dough, and cut the squares on the diagonal to make triangles.
9. Place on ungreased non-stick baking sheets (or lightly greased baking sheets) and bake for 15-20minutes at 350*.
10. Allow the scones to cool a bit, then make the drizzle: I made half with simply white chocolate drizzle on it, since I wasn't sure how it would turn out with the lemon juice. For that I simply melted the white chocolate square, placed it in a ziplock bag and cut a little off of one corner and squeezed it on. For the half with the lemony drizzle I simply added a little lemon juice to the chocolate before melting. Jamaal and I both preferred the lemony drizzle. It added more flavor. If you don't have white chocolate, you can find more drizzles at the original recipe here.



Measuring out the blueberries.
Rinsing the berries. Most recipes tell you to dry them with a paper towel, but like sifting, that seems like a waste of time to me! ;)
Making a well in the coarse crumb mixture.
It looks like a bear opened this carton. I was ready to cut the entire top off. Stupid carton. I'm getting frustrated just looking at it! haha
Blueberries and dough, next careful kneading!
Cutting out the scones!
Glazed goodness! :D

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Great news!

So I know that many of you with blogs have been having problems with uploading photos...and I was having such a huge problem with it that I actually went to complain, and found this:

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?answer=156829

To set your blog to the "updated post editor," go to your settings page under the basics tab and choose the updated post editor. Read all about it at the link above! :D

Now to try it...

Sunday, August 30, 2009

The house, the present and the future

Well not much has really been going on around here.

We have stuck with the house that is located in Auburn, but the inspector found an issue with the drain pipe coming from the washer output. (After plumbers came out to look at it, they estimated it would cost $1200-2000 to fix, which is way more than Jamaal and I will have in quite some time.) So Jamaal and I decided to change out loan to an FHA streamline which basically means that we have $10,000 to spend on updates right away. The only issue with this type of loan is that it takes a really long time to have contractors approved by the people in charge. But Home Depot came out with a program specifically for this type of loan; it's brilliant on their part because we have to use home depot product and so far the people have shown to be nothing but helpful. Home Depot actually uses contractors, which is great for the contractors to get some business, and they too have been great.

We will end up with a new fridge, a front-loading washer and dryer, brand new and good quality carpet throughout, a new gutter on the side, and insulation under the house.

It turns out that the inspector didn't go far enough under the house to see that the washer output was connected properly to sewer after all. So the whole reason for us getting this type of loan is kind of gone...however we will appreciate new carpet and that too would take us a while to afford.

So because we changed the loan type, our lender requires more time to get everything in order, which means that instead of closing on September 11th, we'll close on September 30th. The only thing that stinks about this is that I had requested a week off after the Sept. 11th closing, but now I don't want to waste that vacation, and will request a week off the second week in October. Which may or may not be handy...I know that I'm going to be crazy when we move....because September 30th is a Wednesday and Jamaal doesn't think he can get the day off, so that leaves me in charge of everything. Which, hopefully will already be packed up by then. It doesn't help that I'm on night shift and therefore my schedule is all over the place. I sleep way more than normal, so hopefully I'll be able to pull myself out of bed. ;)

On a different note, I tried to post pictures of my nephew from so long ago today, but I'm having a hard time loading the pictures....when Jamaal gets home I'll have him help me.

I've been having a lot of pregnancy dreams lately. Last night I had a dream I looked in my purse and there were like 7 months worth of birth control pill packs in there, only they were mostly empty, except for one or two pills that I had obviously forgotten to take. And it was at that moment that I realized I was pregnant. (In my dream of course.) But in real life, I'm working nights and I actually have forgotten to take my pill, two nights in a row this last month actually. The worst part is that I didn't even realize it, I mean I looked at my pack it was Friday and there were still pills for Wednesday and Thursday in there. And I actually couldn't remember not taking them. I thought I had...

While I know I would miss some things about being a young married couple, without kids, I am really starting to dream about having kids of our own. I keep talking about it with Jamaal in hopes of getting him to the same place I am. Asking him questions like: "Do you have any ideas for baby names?" (he doesn't, at least that is what he says now) "Does the fact that very few of your friends are even close to having kids, make you want to wait to have kids?" (no, he says, that's not a factor) And that's a good thing, because if we had to wait until his friends (who at this time are not dating someone steady) were thinking of having kids, we'd be quite a bit older than I'd like to be. And finally the all important question: "Do you want to have kids?" (yes, he does!)

When? he doesn't know. I think that he would like to go to Europe first. We both have family there, and if we planned it right, we could stay with family in Ireland, and in Denmark to save money. He definitely wants to go to Germany to the Audi manufacturer and look at the gorgeous Audis. So we'd have to stay in a hotel in Germany for a couple nights at least. And then we could rent a car and drive to Denmark to visit with my family. We'd have to fly from Ireland to Germany or I guess we could start in Denmark, and then go to Germany and possibly other European countries, then fly to Ireland on our way back home, and stay there a few nights with his family....

Haha what a dream....

Friday, August 21, 2009

A woman's work



**Side Note: First of all, I must apologize, because while I'm filled with emotions and thoughts when I watch this video, my thoughts are not translating well into this blog...so please keep in mind that words cannot describe much of my emotions and feelings, and thoughts on this dance routine....**

This is why I love So you Think you can Dance so much. (And still have many more episodes to watch, so please do not ruin that for me. Do not comment on any episodes past when the top 8 perform....pretty pretty please!! :D I love DVR...)

I'm so touched by this routine. Melissa and Ade danced it beautifully, and put their souls behind their movement...when I watch it I don't see a dance, I see a story. I don't think you need a description of the story behind this routine, but just in case you don't see it....

It is simply a story of one woman who has breast cancer. But the movement translates further than that. For me, she has "cancer" not specifically any cancer, it could be breast, sarcoma, colon, lung etc. I feel like "she" could be a "he", as the emotions are very similar for either sex. The journey, and the experience is very different. For example, men can fit in with a bald head, while women tend to stand out. (Hair loss, however, is not necessarily an easy side effect to deal with for men, but in general it is not as devastating for men. Again, it is different). Of course, since the dance is to "A woman's work" the story is obviously more centered around a female's experience of cancer.

The emotions hit me like a slap in the face. Hope. Love. Support. Strength. Trust. Beauty. Grace. But also Anger. Fear. Loss. Grief. Uncertainty. I see all of these in the video.

I have watched the routine over 5 times now, and I still cry when I watch it. At work I see this too. We give chemotherapy on my floor, and I love my chemo patients. But, they do have cancer, and they do have good and bad days. Some of them don't make it through their chemo (they receive several cycles before "finishing" chemo). Some of them make it through, only to come in to the hospital to pass on. Some of them live longer than "expected." Some of them don't.

But most of them hope. Most of them live (as in be present for the moments that they have left.) Most of them survive, even if their "survival" is only a few years after diagnosis.

Unfortunately, though, sarcomas are usually found later on, and are therefore harder to recover from. This is difficult to remember when I am talking with a living, breathing, hairless patient, who aside from the tumor and the chemotherapy is otherwise healthy, happy, and full of life. My coworkers will mention things like "it's too bad" or "it's sad" but while I agree that cancer sucks, I don't necessarily feel like all is lost. Not until they are actually on their deathbed can I picture them there.

Maybe I'm naive. But I like to think of myself as hopeful. I think my coworkers think about the worst, to help to detach from the patient. To prepare themselves for the worst, because "the worst" has happened a lot on our floor. If they aren't as attached, and the patient loses their fight, the grieving process is easier. I think that is the theory at least. I don't feel like I'm hurting myself to form bonds with people who might end up of dying from cancer. Besides, it's not about me, it's about that person, who happens to have cancer. If I'm hopeful, they can sense it. At least that is what I believe. I prefer to think positively, and I think my patients appreciate that.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

It's someone's birthday today...


Happy Birthday Jess!


Thursday, August 13, 2009

Just a quickie!

So I've promised pictures, and I haven't forgotten...I just don't know when I'll get around to posting them...the issue is that I was using our fancy camera and I don't know how to transfer photos from it...(well I do know, I have to use a cord to connect to my computer, I'm just that lazy that I don't feel like doing that and finding the cord might be difficult.)

I'd be willing to place a bet that the pictures won't be posted until after September...any takers?? ;)

Well since I last posted, Jamaal and I have been seriously searching for a house to buy...we thought we found the one, placed an offer and reached mutual acceptance. It was a house that the owners owned outright, and they were uncharacteristically attached to the house, which made negotiations very difficult. We had an inspection and discovered a lot of issues with the house, and for the price we had agreed to, we felt that the sellers should fix the issues. (There were a ton of plumbing problems, the roof wasn't great, there was a ridiculous tree right in front entangled in the power lines, and the previous owner tried to pose as electrician (and failed). He messed around with the fuse box, and used masking tape instead of electrical tape...it was ridiculous. So anyway after all of the inspection (and the complete refusal of the owners to fix anything) we backed out of the deal. I was a little heart broken to be honest. But not because I really wanted that house. It was more so that I wanted a house. I wanted a house that we could call ours. I wanted to be proud of where I lived. To decorate it as I wish, and to possibly get a cat if I wanted to do that. (our current landlords do not allow cats, but don't care about dogs...because they are allergic, though they have no intention of living here...I don't get it.) I wanted pride in ownership.

I think that this house is that for us, even though it is located right by my old high school...a little north of our parents, and will make our commutes a little longer.

The inspection is on Tuesday, and we'll know after that.

We've been lucky so far to pick houses that were either a traditional sale, or bank owned...we did not want the uncertainty of a short sale....

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What have I been up to?

Since I last updated, a lot of things have been going on. I will post later with some pictures of a couple things that I did last week (one was having my youngest nephew over to spend the night!)

But I thought I would let you all know that my wisdom holes have been healing well. (I actually never really had any holes because they were able to stitch me up pretty well. I'm eating normally now, but do have a little pain at times on the gum line, but that comes and goes.

I have a shoulder pain that comes and goes that I don't really know why it hurts, and that is my new gripe. I need to go to the MD about it to possibly get a physical therapy prescription, but kind of got busy my last two days off so I did not go. The pain doesn't really happen until I'm at work, and then it kills me. I don't know what I'm doing at work to hurt it, so it leads me to believe it is stress related.

We'll see.

In other news Jamaal and I will be buying a house here soon. Well, I say that, but we will be looking at the first few options on saturday. BUT we are able to put an offer in at any time. Mostly the issue is location. We would prefer to be north of our parents, kind of situated around I-5, ideally right around where we are currently. However, this area tends to be more expensive, and we've been spoiled with a big house, so it would be hard for us to downsize a ton. Obviously we would do so if we had to, but the fact is that if we lived around our parents we could have a bigger place. So we just have to figure out our priorities. We found one house that is basically gutted, which would be a ton of work. But we would be willing to do so as long as we could get a loan for a lot of extra dough to do the remodel....we'll see.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A little less wise

Warning, some disturbing content below!!

Last Thursday, I went in and had my wisdom teeth pulled. Now, 4 days later, I'm still on the mend. While the pain is getting better, it still hurts pretty bad, bad enough that I'm pretty sure I should take a vicodin before I eat anything. Here it is noon, and I'm wondering if I should eat something to fight the hunger pains, or should I just go without for a bit longer...

If you had the night I had last night, you would be having the same internal dilemma. I barely slept, and was up nearly every hour on the hour with the worlds worst gas, etc. That is all the detail you need. Fortunately I did not throw up, that would have made everything even worse!

It was interesting to have surgery, one second I was awake, and the next they were waking me up. The MD said "I just gave you a little bit of fentanyl and versed, once you're comfortable I'll give the propofol." His assistant put something in my mouth to hold it open, and then they were waking me up. Telling me to straighten my legs; teaching me how to walk again. Haha. They sat me down while they went over instructions with my mom, and I started to shake pretty badly, which is a side effect of the anesthetic. I had a warm blanket on me, and I stopped shaking. But even this part now is so hazy, I barely remember getting into the van to leave.

My mom and I went to Top Foods to pick up my prescriptions, and I was ready to join her to go shopping for some food. My mom was having none of that, however, I suppose she didn't want to babysit. :D So instead I wrote out a shopping list for her: apple juice, sprite, popsicles, a loaf of bread, and deluxe macaroni and cheese.

Fortunately for me, I only had 3 wisdom teeth, and only one of them was on the bottom. So really the pain is mostly on one side of my mouth. I feel like the pain should be gone by now, so part of me is worried that I'm infected or something. But it looks good in there...so I'm probably just a big baby.

If you get easily grossed out, don't look below!!





I asked the surgeon to save my teeth!
They were able to pull them all out whole! Most of the time they have to break the bottoms, but I was an exception...

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Honeymoon!

Jamaal and I had a really good time on our honeymoon. We were gone a total of 8 nights, which was the perfect vacation. We felt like we were gone for a month! (but it did not feel like it was dragging on and on...).

We started out at a Best Western, across the street from Disneyland. It was just a short walk from our hotel to both parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. We spent 4 days in Disneyland starting the afternoon we arrived; since we had so much time for the parks, we took our time seeing everything. We had a good time on the rides, and spent lots of money on food in Disneyland. :D

Here we are waiting in line for Space Mountain. Jamaal's first time on it.
Here is an action shot of us on the Matterhorn.


I really wanted to go to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. but since Jamaal isn't a big fan of seafood or fish, I figured we wouldn't go there. Jamaal surprised me and said we should go there because he knew I wanted to try it. We were both happy we did, because we really enjoyed the food, drinks, and even the wait staff! It was a fun experience. (And the food was amazing!) It was funny because I ordered "Bucket of boat trash" which came with shrimp, fish, and lobster claw. Well later on in the trip, Jamaal and I went to an aquarium, and there was a really huge lobster there. I said that I had eaten some of its friends, (and that I didn't like it), and Jamaal said that I hadn't. He ensured me it was crab that I had eaten. "Lobsters don't have claws, look at it," and he pointed at the huge specimen of lobster. I was pretty sure I was right, but he wore me down. Later on, we ran into another Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and the menu was posted outside. I had to check, and sure enough I was right it was Lobster Claw! I definitely rubbed that one in his face...haha.


Here he is with his special drink! Mine had blueberries in it. It was heavenly!


In the California Adventure they are coming out with a Little Mermaid ride, which I am so jealous of...I guess that means we will have to go back for that ride!!


At the ESPN Zone, Jamaal ordered a "Wipeout" inspired drink. It came with a lite up ice cube. (Which is the reason he ordered it...) But it had like Tequila and some spice in it, so that it had the worst aftertaste ever. He barely drank it.

After trying his drink...grooooosssss. :D But the food was really good.
Waiting in line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It's not that wild of a ride, just in case you weren't sure.

In the California Adventure they have a Bug's Life area, and I loved this bug. We look so similar don't we??? I loved the 3-D bug show, that they have. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it!


This picture we took while waiting for the fireworks. It was a very frustrating experience trying to see the fireworks, because there was no order. Jamaal and I wanted to watch the fireworks over the lake, not the ones over the castle, but they had some special thing going on where you needed a bracelet to watch them over the water. I don't know what the deal was. But, the coolest part was watching Tinkerbell fly over the castle!! And then later, seeing Dumbo fly!! It was soooo coool! I think it would be sooo much fun to be Tinkerbell!!
________________________________________
After 4 busy days in and around Disneyland, we were ready to move on. I have to say that Disneyland was really good birth control, because of the numbers of children. They were everywhere! Screaming, running, touching me while in line, it was really annoying!! Mostly it was annoying seeing the parents just stand and watch their children invade my personal space. During one line, there was a girl of about 7 or 8 years old, and she kept kicking me, scooting up close to me, and her father asked her to stop, but she just kept doing it. That is when you physically move your child a step back...
Jamaal and I also could not believe that parents would bring 2 month olds to the park. What is the point??? You can't go on any rides, the wee babe can't either. And here you've paid good money for your ticket, only to carry the child around....looking at stuff you can't do. To each his own...my children will not be going to Disneyland until about 7 or 8 or so. Unless they have displayed their maturity at an earlier age, and they are tall enough to go on everything. :D I think that's about 48 inches...

Friday morning, we checked out of our cheap Best Western hotel room, and drove about 30 minutes to Huntington Beach. After checking in, we walked a short distance down the beach. The weather was comfortable, but not very hot. This is the bridge we took from our hotel to the beach.

Jamaal was looking at places to go in and around Huntington Beach, and found an Aquarium in Long Beach about 15-20 minutes away. We decide to go one evening. We arrived there at 5:00pm, and according to Jamaal, they closed at 9:00pm. We went to the doors and were greeted by an Aquarium worker: "We will be closing at 6, but tickets are half off." We decided to still go, since it was half the price, and it wasn't that big of an aquarium. It was fun. My favorite fish is above. He was HUGE!!

The aquarium had tons of sights to see, we saw it all in 45 minutes.

This is us during the drive to the San Diego Zoo, which is an interesting story...
Jamaal looked up directions on his phone using the google maps application, and according to the phone it would take about 30-45 minutes. Well, about 30 minutes into the drive, I noticed a sign that said "San Diego--75 miles." I didn't say anything, because I had figured it would take longer than 30-45 minutes to drive there. Just a few minutes after that, however, Jamaal said that he had missed a turn. That is when I told him that I had seen a sign that said we still had a while to go. Jamaal pulled over, and did a little research on his phone, and realized that the previous location we had been going toward was an "unverified" location. We indeed had about 1.5 hours left on our journey. Before we left the hotel I had asked Jamaal when the Zoo closed: "9 pm." He replied. We finally made it to the zoo at 4:50pm. Can you guess when the zoo really closed?? Fortunately, not 5pm. But 6pm. We had only an hour to go through the entire San Diego Zoo!! Since it was such a long drive, we knew we were not going to come back again, so we decided to still buy tickets. Unfortunately, they did not discount with only an hour left. We had a good time in the zoo, there was so much to see. We definitely did not see it all in only an hour. Most of the animals were asleep for the night. And you should have seen the line to see the pandas!! It was longer than some of the lines at Disneyland!! (We were not that desperate to see a panda...)

In front of the Zoo!!

They had a ton of monkeys/gorillas/orangutans; here is me posing with one of the fake ones!

The view from our hotel room. We lounged at the pool one warm afternoon.

Here we are again in the car. This time I think on our way back to our hotel after going to Universal Studios. We really had a good time there. The rides were a lot of fun, and we really enjoyed the shows. We bought "front of the line" passes which meant that we never went into a line, we always went straight to the front. It was so fun!!
I didn't post any pictures, but we also went bowling before catching our plane home. We played 3 games, and I won 1 of them...and that was a really close game. In my defense, though, I was worried about breaking a nail!! :D It is pretty typical of him to win. We went and saw two movies during the first half: The Hangover and Land of the Lost. Both of them were enjoyable. The Hangover was hilarious. We really enjoyed it (and I did not want to see it, but did because I knew he wanted to see it).
Overall, it was a blast!! Maybe now I've learned to check when things open myself...I'm way too trusting! :D

Friday, July 10, 2009

Wedding photos are up...

If you're my friend on Facebook, you can check out the rest of my wedding photos. There are so many, I had a hard time picking photos to put on here. I probably put more than I wanted to on here...but oh well!

June 6, 2009: Our 4 year anniversary. We were able to celebrate 4 years together by getting married!

This is a photo from the rehearsal. Dad and I walking down the aisle. (the aisle moved for the actual wedding to limit the amount of mud we had to walk through)
This is simply a photo of the centerpieces with my precious favor boxes. Stay tuned for some up close photos of the favor boxes on my crafty blog!

Jamaal getting his boutonniere on.

My ladies and I.


Our "special moment."


The bride.


My prince in the spotlight.


My groom.

My favorite.


The whole gang.
My ladies.
See our pretty flowers??
What time is it? (I love Connor Bly in this photo, my nephew and one of my ring bearers.)

My family, with the newest addition, my husband!

Our parents.

Mom and dad, I need some space!


"You were supposed to pretend kiss me mom!"


Dad and I being "us." Don't remember what was so funny, but that's okay.

Me and my new family.


I love this photo of Jamaal and his brother!!


Connor Bly playing with the Sit-to-Stand. (The chair perfect for elderly and/or people with arthritis; you push a button and it lifts up to make it easier to stand up from sitting.)


For Connor it was a ride.


Our champagne toast, my last as a single woman.

Our beautiful, gorgeous, yummy yummy cake! Made by Jamaal's cousin Tashina!


A close up of the top of the cake.


So here is where the ceremony gets interesting. We had two ring bearers. Connor, my nephew, and Sienna, Jamaal's cousin's kid. Apparently Sienna wanted to hold Connor's hand down the aisle, because she wanted to marry him. But Connor did not want to hold her hand, nor did he want to get married.

Sienna was very upset. Her heart was broken, and here she is crying/pouting down the aisle. She later said that she didn't want to marry him anymore, and that she didn't like him anymore.

Once I left the comfort of the Senior Center, I started to cry. I was trying very hard to not cry....but that effort was futile.

During our very very short ceremony.


First kiss as husband and wife.


Getting food! I was so very hungry.


Connor acting as professional photographer. He probably took 20 pictures of me and Jamaal eating.

The rings.

My Gonzaga group (the ones able to make it).

My nursing school crew.

First dance as husband and wife.


Cutting the cake.

We were nice to each other.


Speeches. Bret said he wouldn't make me cry, which was a lie. (It's very easy to make me cry...)


Kristina's speech.

Dancing with my father. He is a big baby too. From the very start he was crying.


Jamaal and his mom.

You ready for this??

She dropped it, but was the one that caught it.

Careful now!


My girls from high school.

Being silly.

Signing the marriage license.

I just like this picture.

I think she's a little young for a drink, don't you?

High school buds.


Our ride

"Are you serious?" I could not believe our ride was so big!!


Good night kiss. I feel so over dressed!